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Stuffed Onion

A large onion filled with finely chopped shallot, mushroom, parsley, and veal, simmered in stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stuffed Onion

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the onion and cut off the bottom so it stands well.

  2. Blanch the onion in boiling water for 20 minutes, then let it drain.

  3. Remove the middle of the onion and fill it with forcemeat made from the shallot, mushroom, parsley, and veal, all finely chopped and mixed.

Cook and serve

  1. Place the stuffed onion in a small pan and cover it with stock.

  2. Simmer until the onion is tender, then reduce the stock to half its quantity and serve with the onion.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  3. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 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

Onion
Forms the edible case that softens and turns sweet as it simmers.
Veal
Its proteins set when cooked, giving the forcemeat body and a firm bite.
Mushroom
Adds moisture and earthy flavour to the forcemeat filling.
Shallot
Contributes a mild, savoury aroma to the forcemeat.
Stock
Supplies moisture and flavour, and reducing it concentrates them into a sauce.

The step that matters

Reducing the stock. Stock concentrates as it reduces, so its salt and flavour intensify quickly. Reducing it only to half its volume keeps the sauce balanced rather than harsh or overly salty.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, mushroom, parsley, veal):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, mushroom, parsley, veal. 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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