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Belgian Onion Soup

A soup of sliced onions simmered in butter, stock, and beer, topped with broiled bread and Parmesan.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Belgian Onion Soup

Timeabout 30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Sauté onion in butter until soft.

  2. Add chicken stock, beer, salt and pepper.

  3. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes.

  4. Adjust seasonings.

Toast the bread

  1. Broil bread on one side about 3 inches from heat.

  2. Turn bread, sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese, and broil 1‑2 minutes more until lightly browned.

Serve

  1. Pour soup into bowls.

  2. Add cheese‑covered bread.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

925Calories
56 gProtein
24 gFat
111 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Beer1/4 cup (60ml) for cooking43
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

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

  3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Red onions
Become soft and sweet as they cook, forming the body of the soup.
Butter
Carries the onions' flavour and adds richness as they soften.
Chicken stock
Provides the liquid base that the soup simmers in.
Beer
Adds malty, slightly bitter depth to the broth as it simmers.
French bread
Soaks up broth and holds the melted cheese on top of the soup.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on the bread, adding savoury, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Turn the bread and broil briefly. Parmesan browns quickly under high heat and can burn, so the bread needs watching over the final 1 to 2 minutes until it is lightly browned.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, chicken, beer, pepper, bread, parmesan cheese):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, chicken, beer, pepper, bread, parmesan cheese. 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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