Maybe the most important ingredient in French onion soup

I'm making French onion soup today. 6 pounds of onions, cleaned and sliced.  A knob of butter in the big pot, and in go the onions.  Set the heat to medium, and then add in the most important ingredient of all..

Time and Patience.

Three hours of those ingredients, plus a little stirring, gives us onions ready to make soup with. Fail to add enough time or patience, and nothing will save that pot of soup.

Sliced haphazardly.  No matter. They cook down.

Stir every 20 minutes or so. Safe to walk away from.

Stir ever few minutes or so. Stay there. Heat to high

Stir almost constantly till the onions hit the caramelization level you want.

Ingredients:

6 pounds of onions, prepared as described

1 medium carrot, grated

1/8 pound Butter to cook onions in

1/2 cup Marsala wine

2 quarts beef stock, preferably home made.  Low/no sodium at the least

Salt, black pepper, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and Aleppo pepper flakes to taste.

Directions:

Prepare and cook the onions in the butter.  Stir often.

When the onions are reduced by roughly 3/4 and are nicely browned, toss in all the other ingredients.  Stir well, and then simmer till reduced to taste with frequent stirring.

Serve:

We prefer traditional, with the soup in a crock or bowl and a cheese melted crouton on top. If good cheese (gruyere) is available, spread it on liberally and broil till browned.