There’s nothing like some mid-winter cravings to make you dig out your mom’s stock pot and warm your hands and soul over a hearty bowl of soup.

In this case, that soup is French, and there are a lot of onions involved. Chef Thomas Joseph from Kitchen Conundrums has an incredible recipe for french onion soup, and you’re going to want to see it. Tired of dull, watery broths, Joseph dispenses crucial secrets on how to make sure your soup is thick, rich, and flavorful. Some suggestions include homemade beef stock (for those of us with endless time on our hands!) and sherry (probably abandoned in the back of the liquor cabinet by a long-lost uncle).

You will need a certain number of kitchen items to pull this off, so make sure your broiler is cleaned out and your soup ramekins dusted off. Looks like that wedding registry might have been good for something after all…