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Onions Stuffed

Onions stuffed with veal forcemeat, shallot, parsley, and mushrooms, simmered in white broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Onions Stuffed

12 large onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Peel the onions.

  2. Cut a piece off the top and bottom to flatten them.

  3. Blanch the onions.

  4. Lay them on a cloth to dry.

  5. Remove the middle of each onion.

Stuff and cook

  1. Fill the cavity with veal forcemeat mixed with shallot, parsley, and mushrooms.

  2. Place the stuffed onions in a well-buttered sauté pan.

  3. Cover the pan with white broth.

  4. Simmer over low heat until tender and glazed.

  5. Turn the onions over.

  6. Serve as desired.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal forcemeat
Forms the savory filling that cooks into a tender, moist centre inside each onion.
Butter
Enriches the pan and helps the onions brown and glaze as they cook.
White broth
Provides liquid for gentle simmering, keeping the onions moist and tender.
Chopped mushrooms
Adds earthy flavour and moisture to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Simmer over low heat until tender and glazed. Gentle heat lets the onions soften through without breaking, while the forcemeat sets fully. High heat would toughen the meat and could scorch the butter and broth before the onions are cooked.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, shallot, parsley, mushroom, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, shallot, parsley, mushroom, butter. 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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