Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Lima Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Open the can of lima beans, drain, and rinse well with cold water.
Place the beans in a pan with just enough water to prevent burning and heat through.
Make the sauce and serve
In a bowl, beat together the butter and egg yolk, then add the parsley, lemon juice, Kitchen Bouquet, and mint.
Carefully add the sauce to the heated beans and serve immediately.
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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,998 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + minttop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,198 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lima beans + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lima beans + parsleytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together126 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies with the butter to thicken and bind the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the beans and sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the sauce to the beans. The egg yolk sauce can curdle or scramble if it gets too hot, so it should be added off the heat or to beans that are only warm, and served right away.
Swap the lima beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, parsley, lemon, mint):
- Peasfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Lima beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, parsley, lemon, mint. 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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