Why it works: Onion and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 32,460 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Chile Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the base
Fry the chopped onion in hot grease until done.
Stir in the red chile and flour until well combined.
Thicken and finish
Add boiling water gradually until you achieve a nice thick gravy.
If omitting the onion, heat the grease and stir in the flour and chile, then add water until smooth.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 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
- Onion
- Softens and sweetens as it fries, adding a savoury base to the sauce.
- Red chile
- Adds heat, colour and chile flavour to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the boiling water.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water gradually. Flour clumps if it meets too much liquid at once. Adding water slowly while stirring lets the starch disperse evenly, so the gravy becomes smooth and thick rather than lumpy.
“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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