A New French Onion Soup
Hortense Thireau updates French onion soup with crisp puff pastry.
In Paris, Hortense Thireau at Bichettes is taking a fresher, lighter approach to bistro classics
Twenty years ago, I was visited by a Parisian chef who gave me a lesson in the fine art of butchering. He also made French onion soup in the traditional manner—hours of cooking down onions and constantly deglazing the pan along the way. The resulting rich brown liquid is not beef stock; it’s no more than onions, water (wine is optional) and time.
Last year, I spent a few days in Paris to research a younger, less hidebound group of bistro chefs who were taking a fresh look at the classics. One such dish was French onion soup prepared by Hortense Thireau at Bichettes, a tiny, charming eatery near Canal Saint-Martin with a handful of tables, sunny country décor and a chef who was perfectly fine turning this classic into something fresher and lighter, crowned with a stunning “hat” of puff pastry.
Thireau uses vegetable broth as the base, deglazes the pan just once and instead of a raft of soggy, cheeseladen bread, each soup tureen is topped with puff pastry, sprinkled with cheese, then baked. You get a five-star-looking dish with a subtle, herb-scented broth.
Thireau used a pound of sliced white onions, along with thyme and bay and a bit of cornstarch to thicken. She deglazed once with white wine after half an hour, and the total cooking time was around one hour, not half a day like the classic version. The bowls are baked in a moderate oven for 20 minutes to fully cook the puff pastry.
Back at Milk Street, we found that yellow onions provided more flavor than white, due to the high sulfur content (which turns sweet during cooking), and we used 1½ pounds (up from 1 pound). Thyme and dried bay leaves worked just fine. A third of a cup of good-quality dry vermouth helped concentrate the flavors, and we opted for chicken broth, although you can substitute a good vegetable broth. High-quality puff pastry (Dufour) will give you a thicker, better topping than the less expensive stuff (Pepperidge Farm), which produces a too-thin covering. Also, Dufour already comes in the perfect size.
You can make this without encasing individual serving bowls by baking the puff pastry on a baking sheet and simply topping each portion separately. But my vote is to follow Thireau’s lead and do it right—the presentation is part of the charm.
Christopher Kimball
Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."
French Onion Soup
1. Place four 12-ounce oven-safe bowls on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle ¼ cup Comté or Gruyère cheese in each.
2. Using a paring knife, cut out four rounds from the pastry, each about ½ inch larger than the diameter of the bowls.
3. After the soup has simmered for about 15 minutes, or until lightly thickened, divide it evenly among the bowls.
4. Brush a layer of egg yolk around the rim, then place a pastry round on top; gently press to secure the pastry.
5. Once all four bowls are lidded, brush the rounds with the remaining yolk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
6. Bake the prepared bowls until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve the soup right away.
