Name: Sauce Soubise
Ingredients: 2 onions; ½ cup white stock; 1 cup béchamel sauce; white pepper; coarse sea salt; a pinch of sugar

Why it works: Sauce and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sauce Soubise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

Peel the onions and parboil them in salted water.
Strain, drain, and chop the onions very finely.

Make the sauce

Return the chopped onions to a saucepan and stir over heat until all moisture is absorbed.
Add the white stock and cook until tender.
Stir in the béchamel sauce and reduce to the desired consistency.
Season with white pepper, coarse sea salt, and a pinch of sugar.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Onion + saucetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,474 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Onion + white peppertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,395 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Sauce + white peppertop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together525 recipes
Onion + sugartop 36% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,747 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Onion and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,474 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Onions: Provide the bulk and sweet, mellow flavour that forms the body of the sauce.
White stock: Adds moisture and savoury depth while cooking the onions until tender.
Béchamel sauce: Gives the sauce its creamy body and smooth, coating texture.

The step that matters

Drying the chopped onions. Stirring over heat until all moisture is absorbed lets the onions soften and concentrate in flavour. If moisture is left in, the stock and béchamel will dilute the sauce and it will turn watery rather than thick and smooth.