Skip to main content
Main

Old-fashioned Creamed Onions and Mushrooms

A creamy sauce of onions and mushrooms cooked in milk and margarine.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Old-fashioned Creamed Onions and Mushrooms

Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the onions

  1. In a large pan, over high heat, bring onions and enough water to cover to boil.

  2. Reduce heat to low; simmer covered 30 minutes or until onions are tender.

  3. Drain onions.

  4. Slip off skins.

Make the mushrooms and sauce

  1. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, melt margarine; add mushrooms.

  2. Cook about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally until tender and lightly browned.

  3. With a slotted spoon, remove mushrooms to a bowl.

  4. Stir flour into the drippings remaining in the skillet until well mixed.

  5. Over medium-low heat, gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring frequently until thickened and smooth.

  6. Remove from heat. Stir in sherry, salt, paprika and pepper.

Combine and finish

  1. Add the onions to the skillet along with the mushrooms.

  2. Over low heat, cook about 5 minutes. Stir constantly until the vegetables are heated through and coated with sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

797Calories
25 gProtein
21 gFat
122 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Flour
Thickens the milk and drippings into a smooth, creamy sauce.
Margarine
Provides fat for cooking the mushrooms and forming the sauce base.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream sauce.
Mushrooms
Soften and brown in the fat, adding savory flavor and body.
Onions
Become tender after simmering and form the main vegetable in the dish.

The step that matters

Stirring the milk into the roux. Adding milk gradually over medium-low heat while stirring keeps the flour mixture smooth; adding it all at once or cooking too hot can cause lumps or scorching on the bottom of the skillet.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, flour, milk, sherry, pepper, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, flour, milk, sherry, pepper, parsley. 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.

You might also like

Mushroom SoupMushroom Soup60 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes