Why it works: Onion and wonton wrapper work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 113 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, wheat, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the filling
Place prawns, pork, water chestnuts, spring onions, sherry, salt and pepper in a food processor and mix to a paste.
Put the mixture in a bowl and beat in the egg white until it thickens.
Wrap the wontons
Place a teaspoon of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.
Dip a finger in the cornstarch water and run it along the four edges of the wrapper.
Bring all four corners up to a point in the middle and press along each edge to seal.
Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Poach and serve
Poach the wontons for 3 to 4 minutes in simmering stock.
Drain and serve with sprigs of coriander.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Onion + wonton wrappertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together113 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + chickentop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Water chestnut + wonton wrappertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together25 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,808 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Pork + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together18,199 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prawns
- Provide the main filling, giving a sweet, firm texture when cooked.
- Minced pork
- Adds fat and juiciness, keeping the filling moist and tender.
- Egg white
- Binds the filling and helps it hold together and thicken.
- Cornstarch
- Mixed with water, it forms a paste that seals the wrapper edges.
The step that matters
Sealing the wontons. If the edges are not sealed firmly with the cornstarch water, the wrapper can open during poaching and let the filling escape into the stock.
“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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