Our Most Requested Soup Recipe Of All Time? This To Die For French Onion Soup! (2024)

FAQs

What is the most important ingredient in soup? ›

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

Turtle Soup made its way to New Orleans from England in the 1700s with clear broth and a bouillon base. It wasn't long until the French, Spanish, and Native people of New Orleans added their own touches to the recipe to create what is now known as Creole Turtle Soup.

Although onions were plentiful and affordable by the poor, a medieval recipe in Le Ménagier de Paris, published in 1393, includes among its ingredients ginger and saffron – rare and expensive spices – making this version of the dish one for wealthy households.

According to the Taste Atlas Awards, the international food database, the Filipino favorite, Sinigang, is hailed as the best soup in the world.

Savoriness can come from other ingredients besides salt. (Especially if you need to watch your sodium intake.) Adding umami-rich ingredients like tomato paste or a parmesan rind to the soup will add a deep, rich savoriness and body to the soup. (Here's what umami means.)

Gumbos are the kings of soups, and there are as many varieties as there are Louisianians. I'll include a few gumbo recipes here among some other fabulous, classic Louisiana soups and soups from other cuisines that I've come across and loved.

There is a more credible theory. It would be a Duke of Lorraine who would have tasted onion soup at an inn in the Champagne region during a trip. The duke would then have greatly appreciated this dish and would have popularized the recipe at the court of Versailles.

Bouillabaisse – a stew of mixed herbs, fish, and vegetables. Garbure – a thick French soup or stew of ham with cabbage and other vegetables, usually with cheese and stale bread added. Oille – a French potée or soup believed to be the forerunner of pot-au-feu composed of various meats and vegetables.

How do you deepen the flavor of French onion soup? ›

A few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf elevate the soup even more, but I take it a step further, adding a splash of fish sauce for complexity and depth—don't worry, it won't taste fishy—and a hit of cider vinegar to balance some of that oniony sweetness.

With such a soup, a knife is your friend, not your enemy. Using both the soup spoon and the knife, push the baked cheese against the rim of the cup or bowl and cut it gently with the knife. Once you've broken the cheese barrier, you can use the knife again to nudge bits of cheese onto the spoon.

French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food. Onions get slowly cooked until sweet and caramelized, then simmered in rich broth until they're practically falling apart. To finish it off, toasted bread is added to give it that lovable crisp-gone-soggy texture and a generous amount of Gruyère cheese is melted on top.

The Foundation: Broths and Stocks

The rich tapestry of flavors in homemade soup begins with its base – the broth or stock. These liquid foundations absorb the essences of anything they touch, hence the insistence on simmering them gently to achieve a depth that sets the tone for your dish.

Herbs and spices add aroma, flavor, and intensity to soup broth. "Use fresh or dried basil in tomato-based recipes or fresh parsley to add freshness to clear broth soups," says Sofia Norton, RD. You can also go with more heat and spices.

Soups have four main parts - a liquid base, a thickening agent, main ingredients, and a garnish. There are many types of soups classified by consistency and ingredients, such as thin and thick soups, cream soups, pureed soups, and specialty soups from different cultures.

A soup's quality is determined by its flavor, appearance and texture. A good soup should be full-flavored, with no off or sour tastes. Flavors from each of the soup's ingre- dients should blend and complement, with no one flavor overpowering another.