In article ,
(Victor Sack) wrote:

l, not -l wrote:

I recently made a big pot of "French Onion Soup" and that started me
thinking; why is it French Onion soup, rather than simply Onion soup?
French fries and French-cut green beans are that because of the how the item
is cut; but, that doesn't seem to be the case with "French" Onion soup.
What makes onion soup "French" Onion soup?

It is because of the general method and ingredients. In such cases, one
has to consider the history of the dish, or at least its premise. The
precursor of the "French onion soup" is the onion panade, one of the
proto-soups based on stale bread, a large family including other
panades, as well such Italian soups as acquacotta, pancotto, or even
ribollita or pappa col pomodoro, and even the Portuguese açorda
alentejana. The stale coarse bread, as well as, in this case, the
onions, are what defines this kind of soup. The panades have been
further developed of course, and the best known versions of the onion
one became known as soupe à l'oignon des Halles (also called gratinée à
l'oignon or gratinée des Halles) from Paris, or its immediate precursor,
soupe à l'oignon lyonnaise, from Lyons. The onion soup is usually
gratinéed, but not always.


Famous-Barr's French Onion Soup

5 pounds unpeeled onions
1/2 cup butter -- (1 stick)
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 bay leaf
7 cans beef broth -- (about 16-ounce) divided (recommended
Swanson's)
1 cup dry white wine -- optional
3/4 cup all-purpose or instant flour (such as Wondra)
Caramel coloring or Kitchen Bouquet -- optional
2 teaspoons salt
french baguettes -- optional
Gruyere cheese -- optional

This is something that is clearly based on one of the French versions,
but is still not anything you are likely to encounter in France. First,
bread is never optional - it is always supposed to be included. Second,
paprika is not used. Third, flour is not used, nor needed - why would
one want flour with bread? Fourth, beef broth or stock, though not
unknown, is rarely used in the French versions, water or chicken stock
being much more typical, the former particularly in the lyonnaise
version, the latter in the Parisian one.

Well, Julia Child (and how much more authentically French can you be?)
certainly use brown beef stock.

Isaac