Why it works: Onion and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Bread Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a double boiler, cook the milk, toasted bread crumbs, and onion for 30 minutes.
Remove the onion.
Add salt and cayenne pepper.
Stir in olive oil or the creamed coconut butter and peanut butter.
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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Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Bread + olivetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the bread crumbs soften into a thick, smooth sauce.
- Toasted bread crumbs
- Thicken the milk as they soak up liquid and swell, giving the sauce body.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat that makes the sauce feel rich and smooth on the palate.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, pepper, olive):
- Tomatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, pepper, olive. 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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