Name: Sopión
Ingredients: 4 cups of red kidney beans boiled very soft; 7 cups of water; 1/2 cup of chopped celery; 1 small red onion cut into four quarters; 1 cube of chicken stock; 1 teaspoon of chopped parsley; 1 teaspoon of chopped coriander; 1/2 teaspoon of thyme leaves; 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce; 2 plum tomatoes cut into halves; 1 tablespoon of oil; 1/2 lb of pork chops with bones.; 1 lb of spicy pork sausages; 1/2 teaspoon of mashed garlic; 1 pinch of oregano; 1/2 lb of sweet potatoes; 2 ripe plantains; 1 teaspoon of sugar; 1 teaspoon of salt

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. 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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Coriander + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,967 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + coriandertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,062 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Red kidney beans: Break down when mashed to thicken the stew and give it a creamy body.
Pork sausages: Release fat and flavour into the pot, adding richness and savoury depth.
Pork chops: Add meat and fat that enrich the broth as they simmer with the bones.
Sweet potatoes: Break down slowly, adding body and a mild sweetness to the stew.
Plantains: Soften as they cook, adding starch that thickens the stew and a touch of sweetness.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and moisture that help build the base flavour of the stew.

The step that matters

Let half the water evaporate with the pot uncovered. Reducing the liquid concentrates flavour and lets the mashed beans and starches thicken the stew. Covering the pot would keep the liquid too thin.

Swap the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, onion, chicken, parsley, coriander, thyme, tomato):

Chickpeafits better
Beansfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, onion, chicken, parsley, coriander, thyme, tomato. 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
Pork Sausage	100g cooked	301
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Red Kidney Bean	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Plantain	not in our table	0

Sopión

Sopión

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

Build the stew

Finish and cook down

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)