Name: Alsatian Onion Pie
Ingredients: 2 tbl Oil, (he recommends corn); 3 lrg Onions, finely diced; 1 cup Soy milk; 1/3 cup Firm tofu, crushed by hand; 1 1/2 tsp Sea salt; 1/4 tsp Black pepper; 1/8 tsp Nutmeg; 2 tbl Unbleached flour; 1 tbl Couscous; 1 x 10 Inch Wholewheat Pie Shell

Why it works: Soy milk and tofu share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 47 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. 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.

Soy milk + tofutop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together47 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Soy milk + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together203 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tofu + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together350 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions: Provide the main savory flavour and bulk of the filling as they soften and sweeten.
Soy milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets when baked.
Firm tofu: Adds body and protein-like texture to the custard, helping it set firmly.
Unbleached flour: Thickens the soy milk mixture so the filling holds together when baked.
Couscous: Absorbs liquid and adds a slightly firmer, grainy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Saute the onions until translucent and mostly soft. Onions must be cooked down before baking, because raw onion stays sharp and releases water into the custard, which can make the filling loose and watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, soy milk, tofu, pepper, nutmeg, flour):

Spinachfits better
Arrowrootfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, soy milk, tofu, pepper, nutmeg, flour. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Couscous	1 cup cooked (157g)	176
Soy Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Tofu	100g firm	76
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pie	not in our table	0

Alsatian Onion Pie