Julia Child's French Onion Soup?? Well... not exactly...

I have to admit - I have watched a few of the old black and white seasons of The French Chef with Julia Child. Okay, more than a few but who's counting?! She makes me, quite frankly, laugh my ass off - almost hysterically at some points. I don't know, maybe it's her mannerisms, or perhaps it's the way she says things at times. At any rate, she was so full of life and her knowledge and joy of cooking enraptured millions. It is definitely safe to say that she knew what she was doing. So this blog post I guess is a small homage to her.

Watching the shows brings me to this post. I watched with fascination the episode on French Onion Soup and I definitely recommend you all check it out. I have it linked, just click on the title.

Now, let me make myself clear... what I did is NOT her recipe... only the procedure. Mainly because I don't drink wine or cognac so I have none of that on hand and I don't plan to buy any either. That would be a complete waste.

My big difference was using beef stock in place of the wine. Someday perhaps I WILL get a bottle of red and make it but until then... beef stock works. Don't forget I also omitted the cognac. To take the place of those two flavors, not to mimic, but to add an extra kick that I thought would suffice, I added a bit of Kitchen Bouquet and worcestershire sauce - not a lot but enough for added depth.

The soup turned out FANTASTIC! It had great depth of flavor. I bet Ms. Child's would have approved. This is a soup that I do believe I will make again at some point.

This shot was while it was simmering on the stove with the topping ingredients ready to go.

Final tasty French Onion Soup!

Looks good, aye?!?!