Name: Green Bean Salad I
Ingredients: 2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed; 1/2 cup oil; 4 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 1 cup sweet white onions, thinly sliced; 1/4 cup sliced stuffed green olives

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Green Bean Salad I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cook the beans in a large pot of boiling water until tender. Drain well.
In a large bowl, combine the oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir well.

Assemble and serve

Add the onions, green olives, and hot beans and toss until coated.
Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

216Calories

4 gProtein

14 gFat

22 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Beans	1 cup (100g)	31
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
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.

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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Green beans + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Green beans + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together61 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Green beans: Form the main body of the salad and carry the dressing.
Oil: Coats the beans and carries flavor, giving the salad a smooth mouthfeel.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Sweet white onions: Add a sharp, crisp bite and aromatic flavor to the salad.
Stuffed green olives: Add salty, briny notes that contrast with the mild beans.

The step that matters

Toss the beans while they are still hot. Hot beans absorb the dressing more readily than cool ones, so tossing them warm helps the oil and lemon juice coat and season them evenly. Waiting until they cool leaves the dressing sitting on the surface.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green beans, lemon, pepper, olive):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Broccolifits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, lemon, pepper, 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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Green Bean Salad I