Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Braised Stuffed Onions
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Peel the onions and scoop out the center to create a large cavity.
Blanch the onions in salted water, then drain in a colander.
Prepare a filling with equal parts cooked beef, raw veal, and fat fresh pork.
Season the filling with salt and paprika, then bind with egg yolks.
Stuff the onions with the filling.
Arrange the stuffed onions side by side in a buttered sauté pan.
Cover and braise in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 40 minutes.
Serve as an entrée or use for garnishing other dishes.
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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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, pork, egg, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, pork, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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