Broth For French Onion Soup (red wine, bread, crock pot, chicken)

[shh1313]

I've perused several recipes and several say chicken broth is better than store bought beef broth.

What do you use? What is your favorite cheese?

[maggie2101]

If I wasn't going to make homemade stock I would probably choose beef consomme watered down with chicken broth. I would use Gruyere or Swiss for the cheese. BTW, the crock pot is great for making caramelized onions.

[shh1313]

Have you used dry sherry? Would that add too or take away from the flavor?

[maggie2101]

A bit of dry sherry would be excellent.

[shh1313]

Thanks.. Any other secrets?

[ScoopLV]

Yeah, actually brown your onions. It takes me five hours to properly brown onions. Otherwise, you're making boiled onion soup.

What you do to your onions is far more important than broth selection.

[Ohiogirl81]

I prefer beef broth, a splash of red wine, with Gruyere cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan.

[Gerania]

Caramelize the onions. I use beef and chicken broth and a little wine. Red or white doesn't matter. The cheese has got to be Gruyere. Use good bread.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

...It takes me five hours to properly brown onions...

You must have a huge pan of onions, which requires that all of the water be driven off first.
I caramelize three large onions in just over an hour, with a 14" pan.

[leilaniguy]

Why not go all the way and bake four or five pounds of beef bones for 4-5 hours on low, then boil them down. I saw that on a French cooking show 40 or so years ago. It was an effort, but the results looked great.