What Is Swiss Onion Soup? Meet French Onion’s Midwestern Cousin

When chef Michael Zentner advised me he was growing a riff on “Swiss onion soup” for Merci — the Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant that he co-owns together with his spouse, Courtney — I hesitated to confess it was my first time listening to of the soup. 

In fact, I knew French onion soup, the basic dish constructed on slowly caramelized onions and beef inventory and capped with toasted bread and effervescent cheese. Was I listening to Zentner incorrectly?

He advised me that he in actual fact discovered a reference to a Swiss onion soup recipe whereas combing by outdated American nouvelle delicacies cookbooks for menu inspiration. My quest to search out extra Swiss onion soup recipes led me down just a few web rabbit holes, all of which introduced me to the identical place: Schuler’s Restaurant & Pub, a historic restaurant in Marshall, Michigan, that has served a Swiss onion soup for greater than 30 years.

Based on government chef John Stovall, this soup didn’t originate on the restaurant, but it surely has grow to be a Schuler’s stalwart. The favored soup even earned a shout-out in a 2015 print journey information highlighting small Michigan cities in partnership with the Michigan Tourism Division, a longtime consumer of Midwest Residing.

Schuler’s home recipe shares some similarities to French onion soup, with just a few distinctive departures. The 2 soups start equally, with yellow onions (a whopping 30 kilos per batch on the restaurant). In France, the onions can run the gamut from blond to deeply browned; at Schuler’s, they cease the caramelization sooner, cooking the onions simply till they flip candy and golden.

One of many largest variations between this soup and conventional French onion is the bottom. As a substitute of drawing upon beef inventory, Schuler’s Swiss onion combines a bought concentrated roasted onion base with the restaurant’s home au jus from its common prime rib. As for the alcohol, Schuler’s leans on Guinness somewhat than sherry, gaining further depth from the darkish beer’s roasted maltiness. Lastly, the soup is topped with a mix of Swiss and Parmesan cheese and baked till golden and bubbly.

For Stovall, the consistency is one other method Swiss onion distinguishes itself. Whereas French onion usually skews medium-bodied and even skinny, Schuler’s model lands firmly on the velvety aspect. “We thicken ours with a roux, and I identical to that thicker consistency,” Stovall says. “When it’s chilly out, folks need a hearty soup.”

At Merci, Zentner additionally makes use of a roux, however provides his Swiss onion soup further physique with crème fraîche. He additionally skips the standard broiled cheese topping, as his restaurant doesn’t have an overhead hood. Now, he’s riffing on the idea once more with a chestnut soup, swapping caramelized shallots for onions and including port for a deeper, fruit-forward sweetness.

As Stovall and Zentner show, there is no such thing as a one true model of Swiss onion soup. Whilst Schuler’s menu evolves based mostly on buyer pursuits, the soup stays virtually precisely because it’s at all times been. “It’s a kind of issues folks come again to time and time once more — we don’t contact it,” Stovall says. 

Zentner, in the meantime, treats the soup as a reminder that recipes are endlessly adaptable. “If I wrote you a recipe for Swiss onion soup, it will begin with caramelizing onions in animal fats and including alcohol,” he says. “After that, you’d make it your personal.” 

Will Swiss onion soup begin exhibiting up on extra menus? It’s exhausting to say. One factor is for sure, although: Whether or not you go basic French or take the Swiss route, you’re in for a bowl of cold-weather consolation.