Uncle Roy’s Famous French Onion Soup

Uncle Roy’s Famous French Onion Soup
Ingredients: 6 medium brown onions, 1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine or butter, (your choice – both work, I
just like butter better), Olive Oil, Paprika (Lots of it), your favorite inexpensive red wine (any red wine
you like, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Chianti), 5 med 14 oz cans of beef broth (we use low fat and low
sodium, but your favorite is perfectly OK – even homemade), Dry ¾” – 1” bread rounds to fit the bowls
you use, and guyere or gruyere – both spellings are correct (Mozzarella – sliced or shredded will also
work) cheese slices (round is better – but not necessary.) Salt and pepper to taste. That’s it.
Clean, thin slice ( I like thin better, but your choice) and chop the onions into ribbons and make the
ribbons as short as you like. (I really am more in favor of the shorter (1” or so) than I am of the longer
ones. It’s easier to eat, but not as traditional. I’m old now, so I like easy. ) Place the butter or margarine
into a suitable large heavy soup pot (one you are familiar with that won’t scorch easily), over a low
(really low) flame and add some olive oil. Kinda use your judgment, but enough to not let the butter
scorch. After the butter melts down add the onions, cover the pot and sweat the onions until
translucent, checking occasionally for scorching. Light brown is not scorching. When the onions are
translucent (from white to going kind of clear looking) this may take 15 to 20 minutes, add the Paprika,
salt and pepper to taste – tasting comes later – right now just use some good judgment. In adding the
paprika, I like to sprinkle it heavy over the onions and mix in. Then I do it again. Get the onions a nice
reddish brown color. (It’s almost impossible to add too much paprika so be generous and adventurous.)
Add the red wine to taste (start with a cup or so – use the wrist method and pour straight from the
bottle, come on, this is your house and your soup) the alcohol will cook off, but if you are absolutely
one of those real abstainers from wine in your cooking, leave it out. Although I can’t imagine this, and if
you do this after I’m gone, I’m sure I will turn over in my grave. You’ll deserve that shudder you just felt.
This will deglaze the pot nicely. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Then, bring to a nice medium simmer
and cook uncovered for however long you think it takes. Mine, for some reason, takes and hour or two.
In between, I like to make sure the wine I’m using is the proper wine by tasting it, and when the soup is
getting to the point where you can taste it, I like to sample it in a small bowl. (For quality control
purposes you understand – same with the wine.)
When you think it’s done to your satisfaction, let it cool. (Unless of course, you are ready to serve it – in
which case, leave it as is.) If you think it needs a little something, add some powdered beef bouillon.
Add more broth if you think the soup needs it to thin out.
Prior to serving, place in oven proof bowls an inch from the top. Cover with a slice of the dry bread
(we’re into wheat now, but we used to use French bread. You can use more than one slice to fit the
bowls. Cover with the cheese of your choice and place under the broiler for a few minutes until the
cheese starts to brown up and bubble, the browner without burning the better because it gets a little
crunchy on top. Perfect. We’re not done yet, go to page 2. (This is just in case you’ve sampled a little
too much wine.)
Serve. Warn your guests the bowls are red hot and to really let it cool down before they wham the hot
cheese in their mouths, because they don’t make band‐aids for the inside of your mouth. You can wait
before serving it, but that has never worked in our house, and we walk around after dinner talking funny
because we still to this day (42 years later) burn the roof of our mouths about half the time.
That’s pretty much it. Hope you like it.
This recipe was given to me by a guy I worked with back in 1976 and he said he got it from the people
who owned Bookbinders Restaurants in Philadelphia, Pa., and that it was a real favorite on their menu.
I’ve made a few substitutions so it isn’t the same. I really like mine better.