French Onion Soup from 1651

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I appreciate how, unlike many recipes, you don't pretend that onions can be caramelized in 15 minutes or something ridiculous. That takes time, dang it!

"Mind your onions" made me think of a story I was told by the headmistress of my elementary school many many years ago. She was one of those people who seemed to have had a very rich life and as a result always had an abundance of stories to tell. We all adored her at school as well so she always had a willing audience. Anyway, so in this particular story, she was living in New York in the US (she's Swedish) with a dear friend of hers. Apparently, they were living in a semi-rough neighborhood at the time and her friend had been ambushed by a robber on her way home from the supermarket. Carrying two large grocery bags in her arms, she did what any normal person would do in such a moment of panic and shouted in a strong Skåne-accent (it's a very strong dialect from the south of Sweden) "Röööör inte mina potäter!!!" ("Don't touch my potatoes!"). The robber was obviously confused and caught completely off-guard by her actions, most likely having no idea what in the world this crazy woman was screaming so he left without taking anything. It must have been almost 30 years now since I first heard that story and it's still one of my all-time favorites. Mind your onions and don't touch my potatoes. Update: thank you for the likes and comments, everyone! I’m happy that Margareta’s story could bring a smile (and some laughs) to so many people. I’m sure she would be happy to know that her stories are still enjoyed even today as well. I don’t for a second miss school, but I really miss her stories. She was an amazing storyteller and just an all-around lovely person.

I made this tonight--it's delicious! As a historical reenactor I learn through doing, and I can definitely see why this would be popular: easy, simple easy to find ingredients, and makes do with stale bread. I love this channel--it neatly falls into the middle part of a Venn diagram of our love of history, food, and Pokemon.

King Louis XV claiming he created French onion soup is like Kim Jong-un saying he created the hamburger.

Max's little smile after the first bite says it all. It's always the first-taste smile that makes these videos perfect.

To see where this channel started to where you're at now, Max, is absolutely astonishing and so well deserved.

Man, your linguistic skills are absolutely impressive. I know this channel is about food but I can’t help but notice how precise and eloquent you speak in every language, English, French, Italian. It’s kind of crazy and almost seems a little super natural the way you can just switch like that and almost sound like a native speaker of the selected language 😆 great job 👍

I made a long-forgotten onion dish I found in a book from 1667. It was apparently known in the 1300s as "Lady's Palfrey' and described then as "An Tyckke stewe of onyen rightly boilèd and none speedily groyned and gadrooked by nymberèd hyrbs dishèd in ye bodrundrum pot." The C17th recipe was similar and tasted more or less like eating raw onion despite being boiled in sherry for 10 hours. The person who wrote down the recipe added a poem: Hebe's Lament, or, The Disparaged Maiden "I long to suckle on thy milk, O spicy tumour of the earth, fair trollop of the tillage realm, who can esteem thy fragrant worth?" It went on for 8 pages but with no cooking instructions.

In Hungary it is somewhat customary to serve french onion soup in a round bread loaf, and the other detail I noticed is that my own mother also creates this dish with milk!

My grandmother got stuck in Paris in 1940 (we all know what happened then, right?). A little Irish woman with a bad attitude would obviously stick out like a sore thumb, so she hid in a restaurant for most of the time she was there. She learned a LOT of recipes, not all of them French and brought them home with her. THIS WAS ONE OF THEM. I'm thrilled that you did this. I've learned a LOT watching your videos. Thank you for this. A lot of memories for me in that bowl. :) -Vic

What I really love is that you're still making videos of foods that will be in your cookbook; you're not hoarding them as a selling point- you're SHARING them as a selling point; so instead of a huge discovery of new recipes, it's like a sing-along for cooking. Though I have to say, it would be really cool when you mention new vs. Old recipes, if you made both and compared their flavor profiles for anyone who hasn't had that food before, or just to highlight differences in how the human palate has changed. So excited for your book release, and we're all so proud of how far this journey has taken you, and how much farther you can go- the sky's the limit!

as a french, that still do that soup as a tradition, be aware that you've not taasted its full taste yet. be sure to have pepper at your taste in iit, but, the most important, work all day long, during a cold day of winter, and come home frozen, tired and broken. Then, you shall put the onions to caramelize while preparing a fire in the chimney, keeping you warm into the yet cold cold walls of your petite maison chérie. as you finish the meal, put it in the traditional onion soup bowl that you only get out of your stuff for that occasion, and then, let your inner child rediscovers love as your red from the cold hand warm up on the bowl, and as the savoryy, hot onions descend with their sweet scent and thee pepper popping out in that sweetness in your bowels, reelieving all tiredness and coldnness from your exausted body, a warm and worthy of the title of glutonny moment of relief. Yeah, this meal only remains to me as a childish and sweet pleasure after a long hard and cold day of winter.

Max has decided to be as French as Onion Soup. I love It! Also, nice to see us return to a milk soup recipe again.

I just want to say a big thank you for taking the time to add captions for those of us who having hearing impairment. It's just another feature that adds to my enjoyment of your channel.

I just got my copy of Tasting History and I love the way it's laid out. It feels like I'm reading a history book instead of just a cookbook, with historical images and sources for where the recipe came from (including a bunch of info about the recipe's history. Just like the simulations!). All the recipes (except for the spartan black broth) look like ones I would actually like to try out. The french onion soup is super good.

That is the quietest I have heard our host ever be during the first 2 mouthfuls of ANY dish. He certainly knows how to show true appreciation, letting the food speak for itself!

This recipe is almost identical to a family German-Swiss noodle recipe: boil egg noodles (probably spaetzle originally), pour over a sauce of caramelized onions and milk, sprinkle with caraway seeds, and serve. My German-Swiss grandmother made these often because they were a family favorite, although she eventually stopped sprinkling caraway seeds. And now I'm craving noodles. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Max!

I love how the bowl shrank but the slice of baguette is consistent when this soup evolved over the centuries.

In my French family, it's a tradition to make an oignon soup at 4/5am the first January after a night of alcool for avoid a possible hangover. It's also a way to begin the year with something traditional, comforting and that bring all the family (and friends) in the kitchen around the cook, speaking (loud) about food. The typical French way of life. By the way, thank you for this History lesson and I will definitely give a try to this recipe.