Onion Soup at Centrale in Washington D.C.

  If ever there were a peak season for onion soup, it’s now. Hot, rich, potent and delicious, this French classic warms the cockles faster than even the priciest thermal underwear. If there’s a better après-ski or après-tobogganing soup out there, I have yet to spoon it up with frost-bitten fingers.

My first taste of onion soup this winter was not in Montreal, but at the chic Washington, D.C., brasserie Centrale. Served in a ceramic bowl and made with a brown chicken stock and caramelized onions topped with the requisite gratinéed crouton raft, this rendition was as authentic as it gets. I munched, slurped and sipped it, revelling in all its sensual textures.

It was pretty perfect, but all taken, it was plain ol’ onion soup. Underwhelmed, I set out on one task on my return home: give onion soup a makeover.

I enlisted four Montreal chefs to help me on my quest: Jean-François Vachon of M Sur Masson, David Ferguson of Le Jolifou, Alexandre Loiseau of Cocagne, and Alexandre Gosselin of Bar & Boeuf. Onion soup is a beginner-level dish, so I was curious to see how four advanced cooks would upgrade this classic.

Food historians believe onion soup dates to ancient Greek and Roman times, yet there’s also a tale bouncing around that claims it was invented by Louis XIV or Louis XV. Whipped up at his hunting lodge, the king’s soup featured onions caramelized in butter and cooked in Champagne – natch.

Royalty aside, onion soup was more of a poor man’s dish, with water, stock or a mixture of either with wine. In The French Cook, written by François Pierre La Varenne in 1651, there’s a recipe for onion soup that doesn’t divert much from the onion soup sold at the corner bistro today. In Joël Robuchon’s Le Meilleur et Plus Simple de la France (Laffont, 1996), the French chef says that though onion soup is incontestably ‘‘Lyonnais,’’ the version with the gratinéed topping is typical of the onion soup enjoyed by everyone from butchers to after-hour revellers in the bistros of Paris’ Les Halles district.

On this side of the Atlantic, however, onion soup really hit the big time in the 1960s, when French cooking was all the rage in the United States. If you’ve been making onion soup from an English recipe at home that includes beef stock and two glasses of white wine, chances are it’s Julia Child’s.

You’ll find onion soup in most old-fashioned French restaurants, but to my surprise, several of Montreal’s hipper establishments are serving onion soup, and not necessarily just in winter. At M Sur Masson, it’s on the menu all year long.

‘‘We serve it at lunch, dinner and brunch,” Vachon says. “And it’s not uncommon for customers to order onion soup in July, followed by a duck confit risotto.’’

I can imagine enjoying Vachon’s soup any day. The most classic of the four proffered by my chosen chefs, the soup is spiked with port and grape must (vincotto) and calls for the highly aromatic Gruyère de Grotte on the final gratinée. Vachon’s recipe is inspired by the onion soup recipe in The Balthazar Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, 2003), yet his addition of the stronger Gruyère works beautifully with the boozy broth.

Ferguson also features onion soup at Le Jolifou, but only in cold months. As his style could best be described as French/Tex-Mex, the chef’s rendition includes unusual ingredients like avocado, ham hock and a smoky/spicy powder made from ancho peppers. And in yet another unusual twist, Ferguson deglazes his onions with half a bottle of beer (the other half can be enjoyed with the soup, he says).

At Cocagne, Loiseau’s soup is also good fun as he calls for three kinds of onions (including shallots and cipollini) simmered in duck stock. A poached egg is added to the mix, and Loiseau ditches the standard gratinéed crouton in favour of a grilled cheese sandwich served alongside. Instead of the usual Gruyère, Comtè or Emmenthal cheese, the chef uses the Quebec cheese Pikauba made by Fromagerie Lehmann, which also produces Kenogami.

Yet the award for most original take on the soup goes to Bar & Boeuf’s Gosselin, who serves his onion soup on a plate with a knife and fork. A knife and fork? Yes! Titled the Compression of Onion Soup, Gosselin’s dish features veal stock thickened with agar agar that’s rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fried to produce soup-filled croquettes. The chef places three of them on a plate alongside a purée of onions and a thick slab of bacon braised in wine and garlic. Slices of Migneron cheese are then draped atop each ball, and thyme sprigs as well as tiny cubes of red wine jelly are used to decorate.

We’re miles away from Julia Child here or even that soup I tasted in Washington. But when the textures and flavours mingle on the palate, there’s no doubt this is onion soup.

Though Gosselin offered me his recipe, I’m sure even the most advanced cook would wither under the challenge. Instead, try it at Bar & Boeuf. As well, so enamored was Gosselin with the dish he created for this challenge, he now offers it on his menu, and plans to feature it as well at his new restaurant called BBQ on St. Paul St.

As for the other three soups, you can either try them in their respective restaurants, or give them a go in your home kitchen. And hold on to these recipes. Now may be the peak time for onion soup, but I wouldn’t turn it down on a breezy summer’s night.

Bar & Boeuf, 500 McGill St. 514-866-3555.

Restaurant Le Jolifou, 1840 Beaubien St. E. 514-722-2175.

M sur Masson, 2876 Masson St. 514-678-2999.

Cocagne, 3842 St. Denis St. 514-286-0700.

 Recipes: Le Jolifou's Onion Soup, M sur Masson’s Onion Soup with Gruyère de Grotte, Cocagne’s Soupe à l’Oignon