Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Lima Bean Chowder
Ingredients
Directions
Soak Lima beans overnight in water.
Drain and cook beans in fresh water until tender.
In a pot, melt butter and sauté chopped onion until soft.
Add cooked beans, salt, and pepper to the pot.
Pour in milk and heat through.
Serve with crackers or bread.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Lima beans + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together38 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lima beans, pepper, butter, milk, bread):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lima beans, pepper, butter, milk, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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