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Onions, ' Stuffed

Onions stuffed with beef, bacon, parsley, and apples, simmered in gravy and served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Onions, ' Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Peel and trim the onions, being careful not to cut off too much of the tops.

  2. Scoop out the hearts of the onions and mince them finely.

  3. Mix the minced onion with the beef or pork, bacon, parsley, bread-crumbs, butter, salt, cayenne, and beaten egg yolk.

  4. Stuff the onions with the meat mixture and place them side by side in a saucepan.

Stew and serve

  1. Add the gravy and chopped apples to the saucepan.

  2. Stew the onions until tender, turning them once or twice for even cooking.

  3. Thicken the sauce with a little flour and butter, then add pepper, salt, and brandy.

  4. Serve the onions on a hot dish with the gravy poured around them.

  5. If desired, pour the strained lemon juice over the onions a few minutes before serving.

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.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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

Spanish onions
Form the edible shell that becomes tender and sweet as it stews.
Lean beef or pork
Provides the savory meat filling that holds the stuffing together and adds richness.
Bread-crumbs
Absorb juices and help bind the meat mixture so it holds its shape.
Egg yolk
Binds the stuffing ingredients together and helps set the filling as it cooks.
Apples
Add sweetness and a fruity acidity that balances the rich meat and gravy.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and flavor in the filling and the thickened sauce.

The step that matters

Stew the onions until tender, turning them once or twice. Stewing slowly in liquid softens the onion layers evenly; too little heat or turning leaves the outer layers firm or the center undercooked, and the stuffing may not set properly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, beef, parsley, bread, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, beef, parsley, bread, butter, pepper, egg. 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.

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