Anthony Bourdain's onion soup Les Halles

Thinly slice eight large onions, or twelve smaller ones.

For the stock, combine two tablespoons of tomato paste and two tablespoons of flour, smother four pounds of chicken bones in it and roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes.

Roughly chop two white onions, three medium carrots and two celery ribs and add them for the final half hour of roasting.

Add everything to a stock pot, fill with cold water, add four sprigs of parsley, four sprigs of thyme, a teaspoon of black peppercorns and the bay leaves.

Bring to a high simmer, reduce to a low simmer for six hours, cool and strain a couple of times.

Over medium heat melt six ounces of butter and hold off adding the onions until the butter starts to brown.

Add the onions and keep stirring until they are a nice dark, even brown; the recipe says around 20 minutes but it took one hour and three and a half minutes.

Slice the baguette into half inch rounds, drizzle with a little olive oil, flip and toast.

Increase the heat from medium to medium high and deglaze with two ounces of balsamic vinegar.

Add the same amount of port wine, deglaze and scrape up the fond.

Add the chicken stock and the bacon cubes, not browned first.

Add a bouquet garni of a couple sprigs of thyme, a sprig of parsley and a bay leaf; bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

Season with a healthy amount of salt and cracked black pepper and simmer around 45 minutes.

Ladle the soup into a crock, float two of the croutons on top and add a heaping amount of grated Gruyere.

Place each crock under a preheated rip-roaring broiler until the cheese melts, bubbles, browns and even scorches slightly in spots, to a panorama of molten brown hues from golden to dark brown with a few black spots.