Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Onion Stuffing
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the onions
Parboil the onions in boiling salted water for 10 minutes.
Drain the onions and chop them.
Make the stuffing
In a bowl, combine the chopped onions with bread crumbs, melted butter, sage, salt, pepper, and paprika.
Bind the mixture together with the beaten egg yolk.
Use this stuffing for roast pork.
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.
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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolk
- Binds the crumbs and onion together so the stuffing holds its shape.
- Bread crumbs
- Provide the bulk and body of the stuffing, absorbing the melted butter.
- Spanish onions
- Supply the main flavour and moisture of the stuffing.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the crumbs stay tender.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, sage, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, sage, pepper. 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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