Name: Onion Soup with Herby Garlic Cheese Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 3 tbsp very soft butter; 6 onions , thinly sliced; 4 garlic cloves , crushed; 1.2l beef stock (made from 2 stock cubes is fine); 2 tbsp plain flour; 2-3 heaped tbsp caramelised onion chutney; 1 tbsp parsley , chopped; 2 small sandwich baguettes; 125g ball light mozzarella , chopped

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Onion Soup with Herby Garlic Cheese Bread

Serves 4

Prep10 min

Cook30 min

Ingredients

3 tbsp very soft butter
6 onions , thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves , crushed
1.2l beef stock (made from 2 stock cubes is fine)
2 tbsp plain flour
2-3 heaped tbsp caramelised onion chutney
1 tbsp parsley , chopped
2 small sandwich baguettes
125g ball light mozzarella , chopped

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

941Calories

47 gProtein

34 gFat

107 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Mozzarella Cheese	1 oz (28g)	85
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,768 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, garlic, beef, flour, parsley):

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, garlic, beef, flour, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.