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Creamed Onions

White onions cooked in boiling salted water, then simmered in a browned flour and beef stock sauce finished with sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓

Creamed Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Select medium, small, even-sized white onions.

  2. Cook the onions in boiling salt water until nearly done.

  3. Drain off the water.

Make the cream sauce

  1. In a saucepan put one tablespoonful each of flour and butter and brown nicely.

  2. Add one cupful beef stock.

  3. Put in the cooked onions and let it come to a boil.

  4. Season to taste.

Finish and serve

  1. About fifteen minutes before serving, add one cupful rich sweet cream.

  2. Serve very hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

756Calories
39 gProtein
22 gFat
95 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51

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

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  2. Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Beef + creamtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,128 recipes

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

Flour and beef barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Onions (in the method)
Form the main body of the dish and turn mildly sweet as they cook.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with fat and liquid.
Beef stock
Supplies the savoury liquid that becomes the sauce base.
Rich sweet cream
Enriches the sauce, adding richness and a smooth, velvety texture.

The step that matters

Brown the flour and butter before adding stock. Cooking the flour in fat removes its raw taste and lets it thicken smoothly, while browning adds nutty flavour. Stir constantly to prevent scorching and lumps.

“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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