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String-bean Soup

A thickened soup made from string beans, flour, fat, onion, milk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

String-bean Soup

2 quarts of soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Cook the string beans in minimal water until tender, then drain and rub through a sieve.

  2. Add the bean liquid and enough milk to make 2 quarts of soup.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the fat in a pot, add the flour, and cook for 1-2 minutes without browning.

  2. Stir in the liquid and cook until the mixture thickens.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Optionally, add small pieces of beans or sliced potatoes for a chowder.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Beans + flourtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,080 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

String beans
Provide the main body and flavour of the soup once puréed through a sieve.
Flour
Thickens the fat and liquid into a smooth, creamy base as it cooks.
Fat
Carries flavour and gives the roux a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body, making the soup smooth and rich.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour in the fat. Cook the flour for 1-2 minutes without browning so it loses its raw starchy taste and thickens properly. Browning changes the colour and flavour, and undercooked flour leaves a pasty taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, flour, butter, pepper, milk):

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, flour, butter, pepper, milk. 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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