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Bean Polenta

A savory bean dish cooked slowly, then blended with butter, molasses, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bean Polenta

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Wash the beans.

  2. Soak them overnight in lukewarm water.

  3. Drain the water.

  4. Cover the beans with fresh cold water. Bring to a boil.

  5. Boil slowly for one hour.

  6. Drain again.

Cook and season

  1. Cover the beans with one quart of fresh boiling water.

  2. Boil slowly for another hour.

  3. Press the beans through a colander.

  4. Return to the kettle.

  5. Add the butter, molasses, mustard, salt, pepper, and vinegar. Stir.

  6. Boil for ten minutes.

  7. Serve in a vegetable tureen.

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. Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Small white soup beans
Form the main body of the dish once cooked and pressed into a smooth purée.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture and mouthfeel.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour with a darker colour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
French mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that complements the beans.

The step that matters

Pressing the beans through a colander. Beans must be fully tender before pressing, since firm beans will not pass smoothly and give a grainy texture. Pressing while hot also helps the purée stay smooth.

“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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