Skip to main content
Soup

A LA Civette

A bean soup made with small green beans, cooked white beans, croutons, chives, sugar, and consommé.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Green beans and beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 36 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the green beans

  1. Cut the small green beans into small diamonds.

  2. Blanch the beans in a saucepan until very green.

  3. Drain the beans on a towel.

Assemble and serve

  1. Combine the green beans, cooked white beans, croutons, chives, and sugar in a soup tureen.

  2. Pour in the prepared consommé and serve.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Green beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + chivetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together180 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Green beans + chivetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Beans + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Green beans + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together115 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Small green beans
Provide the main vegetable texture and bright color of the soup.
Cooked small white beans
Add body and a soft, starchy texture that makes the soup more filling.
Dried croutons
Add crunch that contrasts with the soft beans and softens slowly in the broth.
Prepared consommé
Forms the clear savory broth that carries the other ingredients.
Chives
Add a mild onion-like aroma and fresh flavor.

The step that matters

Blanch the green beans until very green. Brief boiling in a salted or unsalted pot sets the chlorophyll so the beans stay bright green. Cooking them too long breaks down the pigment and turns them dull olive, and it also softens their texture before they reach the soup.

Flavor stand-ins for the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green beans, beans, sugar):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Asparagusbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, beans, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.

You might also like

Illustration of Meatless Green Pea SoupIllustrationMeatless Green Pea Soup22 recipesIllustration of Indian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and SpinachIllustrationIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and Spinach448 recipesIllustration of Clear Carrot and Bottle Gourd SoupIllustrationClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd Soup65 recipesIllustration of Mock Bisque SoupIllustrationMock Bisque Soup51 recipes