Name: Standard Black Beans
Ingredients: 1 lb dried black beans, picked through and washed; 1 small onion, cut in half; 2 ribs celery, cut into 2 inch pieces; 2 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces; 1/2 green bell pepper, cored and seeded; 3 cloves garlic, peeled; 1 bouquet garni of 1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 3 springs of fresh parsley, tied in a piece of cheesecloth; 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

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).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried black beans: Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and creamy as they simmer.
Onion: Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the cooking liquid.
Garlic: Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during the long simmer.
Celery and carrots: Release flavor into the broth, adding background sweetness and aroma before being removed.

The step that matters

Keep the beans submerged while simmering. Beans exposed to air during simmering can split and toughen on the surface. Adding water as needed keeps them cooking evenly until tender.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, carrot, pepper, clove, garlic, thyme):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits about as well
Black-eyed peafits about as well
Beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, carrot, pepper, clove, garlic, thyme. 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
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Standard Black Beans