Name: Big League Black Bean Soup
Ingredients: 2 16-ounce cans black beans, drained; 1 1/2 cups water; 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 cup sliced celery; 1 cup diced carrots; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 cups chicken broth; 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon dry sherry; 3 cups hot cooked brown rice; 1/2 cup sliced green onions for garnish; 1/2 cup finely chopped tomato for garnish

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).
Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beans + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,470 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 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

What each ingredient does

Black beans: Pureed beans thicken the soup body while whole beans add texture and bite.
Olive oil: Carries heat to the vegetables and helps them soften and develop flavor when sautéed.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the flavors of the other ingredients.
Dry sherry: Adds acidity and aromatic depth when stirred in off the heat.
Carrots: Add sweetness and body as they soften in the oil with the onion and celery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, celery, carrot, olive, chicken, pepper, sherry):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, celery, carrot, olive, chicken, pepper, sherry. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Water	not in our table	0

Big League Black Bean Soup