Video: JBF Award Winner Hugh Acheson's Sweet Onion Soup for the Home Cook's Soul

When JBF Taste America rolls into Los Angeles, one expects a weekend of culinary glamor befitting a host city such as Tinseltown. True to form, JBF Award winner Hugh Acheson, our headlining All-Star for the weekend, collaborated with local stars Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook and set the bar high with a lavish four-course feast that criss-crossed the nation in red-carpet style. The next day, at Sur La Table, however, Acheson chose to focus on the simpler side of gastronomy, forgoing the glitz to demonstrate the building blocks of a simple onion soup. “A soup is made by bringing about flavor,” Acheson advised, drawing parallels with the development of a home cook’s repertoire: “What cooking really is, to me, is a chance to spend time with people you love, to nurture yourself and your body, and to teach you a skill set that you can pass along for generations.”  Watch the video above for more of Acheson’s takes on the science and philosophy of the kitchen, whether a bouillon cube is ever acceptable, and how perfecting one recipe can create a foundation for a cornucopia of dishes. To make this at home, grab the recipe.