Why it works: Beans and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,799 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Marrowfat Beans Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Pick over and wash the beans carefully.
Soak the beans in water overnight.
In the morning, drain the beans and add fresh cold water.
Bring the beans to a boil, then drain again.
Transfer the beans to a four-quart stone jar.
Add the butter, molasses, and coarse sea salt to the jar.
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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Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together491 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses):
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Walnutfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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