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Onions, Boiled.

Onions boiled in salted water with a pinch of sugar until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 36% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,747 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Onions, Boiled.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and cut the onions twice at the root end.

  2. Pour boiling water over the onions in a basin, cover, and strain after a few minutes.

Boil

  1. In a large pot, bring plenty of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of sugar.

  2. Add the onions and cook until tender, changing the water halfway if a milder flavor is desired.

  3. Cooking time varies from 1 to 2 hours depending on size; small button onions take 30 to 45 minutes.

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 + sugartop 36% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Onion and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,747 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
The main vegetable; boiling softens its layers and mellows its sharpness into a tender, sweeter bite.
Salt
Seasons the cooking water so the onions take up flavor as they boil.
Sugar
Adds a little sweetness that balances the onions' natural sharpness.

The step that matters

Cooking until tender. Onions cook slowly and unevenly depending on size, so judging by time alone can leave centers firm or edges overcooked. Checking for tenderness with a knife or fork ensures the whole onion softens fully.

“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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