Name: Green Beans with Brown Butter, Wild Mushrooms and Walnuts
Ingredients: Kosher salt, to taste, plus 1 tsp.; 2 lb. green beans, trimmed; 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter; 8 shallots, thinly sliced; 8 oz. wild mushrooms, brushed clean, stemmed; and roughly chopped; Freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Green Beans with Brown Butter, Wild Mushrooms and Walnuts

Ingredients

Kosher salt, to taste, plus 1 tsp.
2 lb. green beans, trimmed
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 shallots, thinly sliced
8 oz. wild mushrooms, brushed clean, stemmed
and roughly chopped
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

224Calories

5 gProtein

15 gFat

20 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together440 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Green beans + shallottop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, mushroom, pepper, walnut):

Chivefits better
Spinachfits better
Capsicumfits better
Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, mushroom, pepper, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.