Why it works: Onion and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,676 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Drunkard's Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the sliced onions in water for about 20 minutes, then add a pinch of mixed sweet herbs.
Serve hot, optionally with diced bread added just before serving.
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 + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Onions
- Soften during boiling and release sweetness and aroma into the broth.
- White bread
- Soaks up broth to add body and a soft, filling texture when added.
- Mixed sweet herbs
- Adds a gentle aromatic flavour to the broth.
The step that matters
Add the bread just before serving. Bread soaks up liquid quickly and turns soft and soggy if left in the hot broth, so adding it at the last moment keeps some texture.
“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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