Name: Fall Bean Stew
Ingredients: 1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil; 1 shallot, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; Leaves from 10 sprigs parsley, chopped; 1 lb. mixed, dried heirloom beans, such as flageolets, scarlet runner beans, cranberry beans, lima beans and navy beans, cooked and drained; 3 heirloom or any fresh tomatoes, chopped, or equivalent of canned organic tomatoes; 1/2 cup vegetable stock; Salt and freshly ground black; pepper to taste; 1 Tbs. truffle butter; 10 basil leaves, torn

Why it works: Beans and lima beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 156 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. 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.

Beans + lima beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together156 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried heirloom beans: Provide the main body and creamy texture of the stew.
Tomatoes: Break down into a sauce that adds moisture, acidity and savory depth.
Garlic: Adds aroma and savory flavor as it softens in the hot oil.
Shallot: Adds mild sweetness and aromatic depth when softened in oil.
Truffle butter: Adds fat and a rich, aromatic finish stirred in at the end.

The step that matters

Cook the tomatoes until they break down. Cooking tomatoes long enough lets water evaporate and concentrates their sugars and flavor, so the stew tastes rich rather than watery and raw.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, shallot, garlic, clove, parsley, beans, cranberry):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Chestnutfits better
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, shallot, garlic, clove, parsley, beans, cranberry. 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
Navy Bean	1/2 cup (91g) cooked	127
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cranberry	1 cup raw (100g)	46
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Truffle	not in our table	0

Fall Bean Stew

Fall Bean Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Make the stew

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)