Camp French Onion Soup
Onions cooked down slow over a fire, then broth and a cheese-topped crust of bread.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 19 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 70 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Yellow onions | 3 lb | sliced thin at home to save a cutting board |
|---|---|---|
| Unsalted butter | 4 tbsp | keeps a week in a cooler; ghee if you have no cooler |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Dried thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Dry sherry | 1/2 cup | |
| Beef stock | 6 cups | boxed, or bouillon plus 6 cups water |
| Kosher salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| French bread | 4 thick slices | stale is better than fresh here |
| Gruyere | 6 oz | grated at home |
Method
- Melt the butter in a wide pot over low fire. Rake coals to the side; a roaring flame will scorch the onions instead of browning them.
Onions are mostly water and sugar. The whole recipe is the hour it takes to drive off the first and brown the second, which is why this belongs at a basecamp and not on a pass at dusk. Fire is actually good for it: you want steady low heat off to the side of the coals, not a burner running hot.
The bread goes on top of the bowl, not under the soup, so it soaks without dissolving. Melting the gruyere over it takes a lid and a couple of minutes of residual heat, which is easier than trying to broil anything outdoors.
Packing
Slice the onions at home and pack them in a zip bag. Grate the cheese at home too. Sherry goes in a small screw-top bottle. Everything but the bread and cheese is shelf-stable; those two ride in the cooler.
Variations
- No cooler: swap ghee for butter and a hard aged cheese for the gruyere. It still melts, just greasier.
- Bouillon cubes and 6 cups of creek water cut most of the carried weight.
https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/french-onion-soup