Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stuffed Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the onions
Boil the onions in salted water for 45 minutes.
Remove from heat and scoop out the centers.
Fill the onions with forcemeat seasoned with pepper.
Serve with the roast
Place the stuffed onions around a roast of beef 30 minutes before serving.
Garnish with the onions when the meat is taken out of the pan.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + vealtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bermuda onions
- Form the edible shell that holds the stuffing while it cooks and serves.
- Forcemeat
- Fills the onion centers and adds moisture and richness to each bite.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper. 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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