Readers of The Bitten Word cooked every recipe in the September 2013 Bon Appetit magazine. Here's their take on Creamy White Onion Soup.

Abigail & Jan: The soup was probably our least favorite part of the dish, taking a back seat to the pickled shallots, onion jam, and cheesy bread. It was a little sweet (we'd cut the mirin and up the white wine if we were to make it again) and we're still not sure if we strained it properly (the instructions were vague), but it needed a lot of extra immersion blending to get it creamy. The flavors are good, but the soup isn't that filling, especially given the serving sizes they recommended -- in the end, it's a lot of chopping for not that much food.

Emily: This soup tasted quite good -- surprisingly sweet -- but the recipe seems way too complicated for a basic onion soup! Adding an expensive/fancy 1/4 cinnamon stick and 1/8 teaspoon of allspice in a red onion garnish? Such miniscule amounts! We didn't taste anything but onions and red wine in the garnish. I'd make the soup again, but not the three (three!) garnishes: fontina toast, picked onions, and red onion jam...

Kelly: The soup itself was absolutely delicious! The combination of ginger and Serrano peppers with the onion created a really complex flavor, and when combined with the Fontina toast it was delicious. Personally I wasn't a fan of the onion jam, too sweet for me, though my other taste-testers enjoyed it. I would certainly make this soup again for a special occasion, but with all the details it is not a 'throw everything in a pot and forget about it' kind of soup.

Rosemary: I couldn't find mirin so after researching substitutes on the internet I ended up using cooking sake and adding a little sugar. I also couldn't find brioche at any supermarkets, so without enough time to drive 30 minutes to a nice bakery I just used some baguette slices to make the cheese toasts. After almost two hours of work on this recipe the end result was a resounding "meh" from my boyfriend. Unfortunately, I tend to agree. My favorite aspect of the recipe was the pickled shallots, and I may actually find other uses for them and make them again. I think they would be good on a salad or sandwich. I wanted to like the red onion jam more than I actually did. I'm not a fan of anise, so that might have had something to do with it--though I think the cheap red wine I used couldn't have been helpful. I should've bitten my lip and opened the nice zinfandel I had at the house. All in all, the soup was a bit blah. Thank goodness I ignored the instructions to deseed the serrano pepper. Leaving them in at least gave the whole thing a bit of a kick. I also didn't strain the soup since I didn't have a strainer on hand and the soup pureed really nicely in my food processor. I plan on reheating it on the stove and tweaking it a bit. Maybe with more garlic and a little cayenne.

Susanna: Et voilà! Fairly similar to the picture online, non? And what was the verdict from three generations of boys around the table? Delicious, interesting, yummy, tasty, sweet, spicy, too creamy. We all agreed I should make it again, but then not worry about blending or straining the soup as we wanted to both see and taste the texture of the various ingredients. The 10-year old found the red onion jam a bit too hot, hubby thought the spices were a tad strange, while Grandpa listed other dishes it would go well with. The teenager had seconds. The pickled shallots were not too tart, but we did have leftovers and it also seemed like there was a lot of pickle juice for a few shallots. I discovered too late that I'd run out of red wine vinegar so had to substitute balsamic in the red onion jam. That may have contributed to the less syrupy consistency as well as the need to add about a teaspoon of extra sugar. I had grand plans about finally trying out a brioche recipe, but ran out of time so made my trusted Italian country loaf instead. And I couldn't pass up on using fresh chilis from my Tower Garden instead of serranos...Loved the fact that this can be done in batches and will make this for a dinner party one day; it's a classy first course. And a great way to spend an afternoon cooking.

Judi: Elegant flavors mixed perfectly to create a sophisticated, rich taste sensation; a meal in and of itself. Homemade brioche just added to the whole experience. And we immediately went to the restaurant's website to see what they charged for this dish.

Laura: I only made a few substitutions to make this dish vegan -- unsweetened soy milk in the soup and vegan butter and Daiya cheese for the toast. I thought it was really tasty, with the serrano chile adding a great spice to the soup itself and the red onion jam really added an extra level of flavor. It was pretty labor intensive, so I might make the red onion jam and pickled shallots ahead of time if I were to make it again.
Get the Creamy White Onion Soup recipe at Bon Appétit