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Creamy French-American Soup

"This soup is an American take on the classic French Onion soup. With the addition of heavy cream, it has a little more fat but lots more flavor!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Provolone cheese and swiss cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 18 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

3 servings
Prep15 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Melt the butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, for about 15 minutes until deep golden and soft.

  2. Pour in the beef broth and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, then season with salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm over low heat.

  3. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Arrange the French bread on a baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes until dry and lightly crisp.

  4. Ladle the hot soup into oven-safe bowls. Top each bowl with a toasted bread piece, then layer provolone and Swiss cheese over the bread.

  5. Bake for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cheese melts and bubbles. Serve hot.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Provolone cheese + swiss cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together18 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,145 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Onion + beeftop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Butter + swiss cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together412 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, beef, pepper, bread, provolone cheese, swiss cheese):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, beef, pepper, bread, provolone cheese, swiss cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).