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Onion Sandwiches

A sandwich filled with seasoned, chopped onions, served on thick bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Onion Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Finely chop the onions.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, olive oil, and paprika.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 1-2 hours.

Assemble and serve

  1. Cut the bread thicker than usual for sandwiches.

  2. Place the onion mixture between the slices of bread just before serving to prevent sogginess.

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. Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

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

  2. Olive + breadtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 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

Spanish or bermuda onions
Provide the main body and sharp, sweet flavor once softened by salt and resting.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the chopped onions, mellowing their bite and seasoning the mixture.
Olive oil
Adds fat and moisture, coating the onions and carrying flavor.
Paprika
Contributes a mild, warm aroma and color to the onion mixture.
Bread
Provides a sturdy base that holds the filling; a thicker slice resists sogginess.

The step that matters

Assembling just before serving. Salted onions release liquid as they stand, and that moisture soaks into bread over time, making the sandwich soggy. Filling it at the last moment keeps the bread texture intact.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, bread):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, bread. 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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