Fix up a flavorful beef stock as a base for your onion soup

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Surprisingly, Martin does not recommend using sweet onions; he prefers the more pungent (and cheaper) everyday yellow onions. Good stock means a cooked-down broth that's rich in flavor but not too salty. Making the soup ahead of time allows the flavors to meld.

Finally, it matters what kind of bread is used and how it's sliced. Use crusty French- or Italian-style bread, and be sure it's a bit hard and dry (dry slices in oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes if bread is fresh). You can fill the whole mouth of the bowl with a slice of bread cut to size, but this can be tricky to eat. Another option is to cut bread into bite-size chunks and float them atop the thick soup so they're more readily picked up with a spoon.

As for stock, you have a number of options.

No time to fuss: The trouble with canned beef broth is that it's full of additives and sodium and doesn't offer a very beefy flavor; the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen has found that canned chicken broth is far superior in offering a true flavor. So try this: Use 1 can beef broth, 1 can chicken broth, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup dry white wine, and taste to be sure it's not too salty.

Shortcut cooking: In his "Master Recipes" (Fawcett, 1987), Stephen Schmidt offers a method for "rescuing" commercial beef broth: In a large pot, place a quart of canned beef broth with 1/3 cup dry white wine, 1/3 cup minced beef (stew meat or whatever you have), 1/4 cup each chopped onion, carrot and celery and tomato. Make a spice bag of cheesecloth with 2 sprigs of parsley, a small piece of bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns and 1/4 teaspoon whole dried thyme, and drop that in. Simmer 40 minutes and strain. This makes a quart (4 cups).

Feel like cooking: This beef stock recipe is based on one in Wolfgang Puck's new "Live, Love, Eat" book (Random House, hardback, $35). Have your butcher saw the bones into pieces for you. Then spread the work over two days: make the broth and reduce it one day, make the soup the next day.

Beef Stock

• 6 pounds meaty beef bones, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 onions, peeled and quartered
• 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 leek, thoroughly cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 head garlic, halved (optional but recommended)
• Water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Spread bones and onions in large roasting pan and roast until dark golden brown all over, turning occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours.

Place bones and onions in large stockpot with remaining ingredients and sufficient water to cover bones by 2 inches.

Pour off fat from roasting pan and add 2 cups water or dry white wine to pan and heat at medium-high, scraping loose the browned bits. Pour the mixture into the stockpot.

Bring water to boil; skim off scum. Reduce heat and allow to simmer gently for as little as 6 hours or as long as 24. Skim off foam or fat as needed throughout cooking time. Add water as needed to keep bones covered.

Strain liquid through fine sieve into clean stockpot or large bowl. Skim off any foam or fat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and reduce stock until it has full-bodied flavor. Makes 2 quarts (8 cups).