Name: French Onion Soup for Two
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter; 2 whole Medium Onions, Thinly Sliced; 1-½ teaspoon Sugar; 2 Tablespoons Scotch Whiskey (or White Wine); 1 Tablespoon Flour; 2-½ cups Beef Broth; 2 teaspoons Soy Sauce; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce; 4 slices Salt And Pepper, to taste; 4 slices French Bread

Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, white wine, flour, beef, sauce, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Shallotfits better
Chivefits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, white wine, flour, beef, sauce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Scotch	not in our table	0
Whiskey	not in our table	0

French Onion Soup for Two