Name: Lima Beans in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon butter or finely chopped bacon; 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion; 1 cup water; 1 cup thick tomato juice (strained); 1 pint can of lima beans; Salt; Pepper

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lima Beans in Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the base

In a saucepan, melt the butter or cook the bacon until crisp.
Add the water and onion, cooking until the onion is very tender.

Finish the sauce

Stir in the tomato juice and lima beans.
Heat through and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + lima beanstop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together131 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + lima beanstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together331 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter or bacon: Adds fat and savory flavor to the base of the sauce.
Onion: Contributes aroma and a mild sweetness as it softens.
Tomato juice: Supplies the liquid body of the sauce and bright acidity.
Lima beans: Add starchy body and a soft, creamy texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the onion until very tender. Raw or partly cooked onion stays sharp and crunchy. Softening it fully in the liquid turns its flavor mild and sweet and makes the sauce smooth, so it should not be rushed before the tomato juice and beans go in.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, tomato, pepper):

Beansfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Chickpeafits better
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, tomato, 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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Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

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Cream Tomato Soup28 recipes

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Lima Beans in Tomato Sauce