Name: Creamy Onion Gratin
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 whole Onions, Peeled And Quartered; 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil; 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter; 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour; 1 cup Milk; 2 Tablespoons White Wine (optional); ⅛ teaspoons Nutmeg; ⅛ teaspoons Paprika; ½ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese; 2 ounces, weight Salt And Pepper, to taste

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
White wine + parmesan cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together697 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, olive, butter, flour, milk, white wine, parmesan cheese):

Garlicbetter flavor fit
Thymebetter flavor fit
Capersbetter flavor fit
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, olive, butter, flour, milk, white wine, parmesan 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).

Creamy Onion Gratin