Name: French Onion Soup
Ingredients: Soup; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces; 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (see illustration below); Table salt; 2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing; 1/2 cup medium dry sherry; 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (Use Swanson's Organic Chicken Broth); 2 cups beef broth (Use Pacific Beef Broth); 6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine; 1 bay leaf; Ground black pepper; Cheese Croutons; 1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices; 8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Why it works: Thyme and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Chicken + beeftop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,148 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,171 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, sherry, chicken, beef, pepper, cheese):

Thymethe original
Garlicfits about as well
Celeryfits less well
Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, sherry, chicken, beef, pepper, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Soup	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

French Onion Soup