French onion soup...

[MarkyMouse]

Which do you prefer? I have had it at Be our guest, and thought it was just ok. I am thinking of trying it at chefs de France, what say you?

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[jennylyn_b]

I have not had bog, yet! I will in May but I have had Les Chefs and it is oh so yummy! Definitely worth a try or two or three.... Lol

 

[owl0306]

i liked bog better than chefs. I love a good onion soup

 

[rlduvall]

I have had it at both places and much preferred it at Chefs. The stock had a fuller flavor, but BOG wasn't bad by any means. I have heard that Chefs is made with beef broth and BOG is made with vegetable broth, but I don't know for sure. My biggest problem with Chefs is that I love the lobster bisque as much as the french onion soup . . . decisions, decisions.

 

[jmcghee2024]

BOG does use vegetable stock which in my opinion gives it a weaker flavor than traditional French onion soup.

 

[MPLsDad]

I didn't love it. I agree that it had a weak taste and it was oily. I even added salt. I didn't finish it and I LOVE onion soup.

 

[MickeyGs]

We liked chefs better, but both were good. I would recommend chefs for sure.

 

[MarkyMouse]

Ugh. I didn't factor in the lobster bisque!

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[minnie mum]

I believe that traditionally a French onion soup has a vegetable broth. I actually prefer this to the beef broth versions that are so often made from those awful cubes. But too each their own.

 

[rlduvall]

I believe that traditionally a French onion soup has a vegetable broth. I actually prefer this to the beef broth versions that are so often made from those awful cubes. But too each their own.

All of the traditional french onion soup recipes I have found call for beef broth/stock. But trust me, I'm no Julia Child.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I believe that traditionally a French onion soup has a vegetable broth.

In the very early years, traditional was made with water.... but since replaced with chicken broth made from scratch not cube! And les Chefs does not have beef broth!

Some had white wine, some none! The richness and color comes from how well you caramelize the onions!

 

[jennylyn_b]

All of the traditional french onion soup recipes I have found call for beef broth/stock. But trust me, I'm no Julia Child.

Julia Child's recipe also uses beef stock!

 

[World Showcaser]

I believe that traditionally a French onion soup has a vegetable broth. I actually prefer this to the beef broth versions that are so often made from those awful cubes. But too each their own.

Traditionally, French onion soup uses a beef broth or brown stock which is made using beef. And that's straight from Julia Childs.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Traditionally, French onion soup uses a beef broth or brown stock which is made using beef. And that's straight from Julia Childs.

But she wasn't French..... Traditional was water, not even chicken broth, beef broth came years later, but it's not traditional!

 

[minnie mum]

from frenchonionsoup.com online: The History on Onion soup (condensed version ):

typical onion soup recipe from the mid seventeenth century would have involved cutting onions thinly, frying them with butter, and then boiling them in water with bread and capers. This soup would have been served with vinegar.

In the nineteenth century, flour, salt, and pepper were added to the recipe and grated cheese featured as a garnish for French onion soup recipes in the early 1900s.

French onion soup has come a long way since those days and modern onion soup features juicy caramelized onions in beef broth with croutons and a broiled Gruyere cheese topping. Modern onion soup recipes are popular with children and adults and there are a lot of different onion soup recipes so if you are following a special diet you can still enjoy this tasty dish.

I remember the first time I tasted an onion soup with a vegetable broth base. We were vacationing in France at the time and I remember our server pronouncing that this was the truly traditional method of preparation. Since then I've had both types served depending on the area in France that we were in. As I said in my first post, too each their own- I wouldn't turn up my nose at either version as long as it's well prepared.

 

[JimmyV]

Today's onion soup recipes are pretty evenly split as between chicken and beef stock. And then, of course, there is Alton Brown whose recipe calls for a 50/50 split of both!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

My favorite so far was actually from Boatwright's, of all places!

 

[MarkyMouse]

Wow! I never expected such interesting discussions from my original question. You guys remind me how little I actually know about a LOT of things. Thanks for the replies!

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[TDC Nala]

French onion soup is generally made with beef broth; the one at BOG is made with vegetable stock according to Be Our Guest itself. So it's probably going to taste different from the one at Chefs which does use beef broth.

 

[JimmyV]

French onion soup is generally made with beef broth;

This really isn't the case. Just to make sure that my training hadn't escaped me, I went to Bon Appetit, Food and Wine and Cook's Illustrated to check their archives, and pulled 15 of the most popular Onion Soup recipes and found:

• 5 made only with chicken stock (or broth) (including Jacques Pepin's recipe, which for me means...case closed);
• 3 made with a ratio of 3 (or 2) parts chicken to one part beef (including Cook's Illustrated's "Best" recipe);
• 2 made with beef only;
• 1 made with a 50/50 ratio, (and Alton Brown subscribes to this as well);
• 1 made with only vegetable stock;
• 2 made with water only, and no stock;
• 1 which called for a choice of either chicken or beef.

So for 12 recipes that call for a meat broth or stock, 8 called for chicken, or a majority of chicken. From what I was taught, the dark richness of the soup is supposed to come from a long caramelizing of the onions. One can replicate that color by cooking the onions for a shorter period of time and adding beef broth. But that is a short cut and not the classic preparation.