Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stuffed Onions
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the onions
Peel the onions and scoop out the centers with a vegetable scoop.
Parboil the onions for 3 minutes, then drain upside down on a cloth.
Fill the centers with sausage forcemeat.
Bake
Line the bottom of a sautoire with lard skin, chopped carrot, and onion.
Place the stuffed onions on top and moisten with broth.
Cover with buttered paper and bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes, basting frequently.
Serve
Serve on a hot dish with strained gravy over them.
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.
-
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 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 holds the forcemeat and softens as it cooks.
- Sausage forcemeat
- Fills the onion centers and cooks through to form the savoury filling.
- Lard skin
- Lines the pan and releases fat that helps flavour and brown the bottom of the dish.
- Broth
- Adds moisture that steams the onions and forms the base for the gravy.
The step that matters
Parboil the onions for 3 minutes. Parboiling partly softens the onion so it cooks through in the oven without collapsing or staying raw in the centre. Draining upside down lets excess water run off before filling.
“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
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.