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Onion Ormoloo

A baked casserole of mashed onions and potatoes with milk, eggs, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and butter or gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Onion Ormoloo

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel the onions and steep them in cold water for 1 hour.

Make the mixture

  1. Boil the onions until soft.

  2. Mash the boiled onions with an equal quantity of boiled potatoes.

  3. Add the milk and beaten eggs, then stir the mixture vigorously.

  4. Season with nutmeg, pepper, and salt.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  2. When halfway done, pour melted butter or gravy over the top.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Soften when boiled and form the bulk of the mash, giving sweetness and body.
Potatoes
Mash with the onions to add starch, giving a thick, soft texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, loosening the mash into a spoonable custard-like mixture.
Eggs
Set during baking, binding the mash so it holds its shape when served.
Melted butter or gravy
Poured over the top partway through baking to add fat and browning.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture vigorously after adding milk and eggs. Vigorous stirring fully combines the liquids with the mashed vegetables so the eggs set evenly during baking rather than leaving pockets of loose egg or uneven texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, egg, nutmeg, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, egg, nutmeg, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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