Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans overnight in water.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Cook and serve
In a pot, combine beans, water, onion, carrots, and celery.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until beans are tender.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,443 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,159 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried beans
- Form the main body of the soup and thicken it as their starches soften during simmering.
- Onion
- Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens into the broth.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and body to the soup as they cook.
- Celery
- Contributes aroma and a savory background flavor to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer until the beans are fully tender. Dried beans need a long, gentle simmer to soften their starch and cook through. Stopping early leaves them firm and chalky, and boiling hard can break the skins and cloud the broth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, carrot, celery, pepper):
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, carrot, celery, 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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