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Bean Soup

A hearty soup of white beans, onions, garlic, kielbasa, and vegetables simmered with paprika and flour.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Bean Soup

Time1 ½ to 2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Pick over the beans for grit and chaff, rinse twice in cold water.

  2. Put beans in a large saucepan, cover with water to a depth of 1 to 2 inches.

  3. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat.

  4. Simmer gently for half an hour.

  5. Remove pan from heat and pour in enough cold water to cover the beans to a depth of 3 inches.

  6. Let the beans settle on the bottom.

  7. Leave for a minute or two; pour off the water and replace with fresh water.

  8. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

Make the soup

  1. Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, parsley, tomato paste, carrot, and peppercorns to the beans.

  2. Cook gently over very low heat for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until the beans are soft.

  3. After 45 minutes of cooking, add the kielbasa.

  4. Fifteen minutes before serving, add salt and prepare a liaison for the soup.

  5. Heat oil until smoking lightly; quickly stir in paprika, then flour. Mix to a thin paste.

  6. Add the liaison to the soup, stirring well.

  7. Simmer for 5 minutes until the soup is thick and rich.

Serve

  1. Serve with bread and red wine.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

672Calories
16 gProtein
15 gFat
118 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0

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

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  5. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried white beans
Form the body of the soup and, as they soften, thicken the broth.
Kielbasa
Adds smoky, savoury flavour and fat that enriches the broth.
Flour
Cooked in hot oil with paprika, it forms a roux that thickens the soup.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated savoury depth and a little acidity to the broth.
Olive oil
Carries the paprika and flour and helps build a rich, smooth thickening.

The step that matters

Heating the oil with paprika and flour. Paprika scorches quickly in hot oil and turns bitter, so it should be stirred in briefly off the heat or over low heat before the flour is added.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato, carrot, olive):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato, carrot, olive. 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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