Name: Ribollita
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 13 cups (or more) water, divided; 1 1/4 cups dried cannellini (white kidney beans; about 8 ounces); 12 large fresh sage leaves; 8 garlic cloves; 5 sliced, 3 chopped; 2 teaspoons (or more) fine sea salt, divided; 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for drizzling; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 large celery stalks, diced; 1 medium carrot, chopped; 1 large unpeeled Yukon Gold potato, scrubbed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, quartered through core, sliced crosswise; 1 large pinch of dried thyme; 1 small bunch black kale,* cut crosswise into 1-inch ribbons (about 6 cups); 1 small bunch green chard (about 4 large leaves), center stem removed, cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide ribbons (about 6 cups); 4 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage; 5 large plum tomatoes, chopped; 1 2-inch square Parmesan cheese rind; Pinch of dried crushed red pepper; 2 cups (or more); or good-quality canned vegetable broth (such as Swanson); 6 1/2-inch-thick slices country white bread, coarsely torn with crusts

Why it works: Celery and carrot 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 ↓

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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Sage + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together731 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Swap the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, garlic, clove, olive, onion, celery, carrot):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Beansfits better
Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, garlic, clove, olive, onion, celery, carrot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Kidney Bean	1/2 cup canned (128g) drained	112
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
White Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Fennel Bulb	1/2 bulb (87g)	27
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Savoy Cabbage	1 cup shredded (89g)	22
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Sage	1 tsp ground (0.7g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Chard	not in our table	0

Ribollita

Ribollita

Ingredients

Directions

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

Explore the science

The flavor team

Swap the kidney beans