Name: Black Bean Soup
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter; 1/2 cup diced carrots; 1/2 cup diced onions; 1/2 cup diced celery; 1 cup broccoli stems, peeled and diced; 2 teaspoons dried thyme; 2 teaspoons dried oregano; 1 teaspoon dried sweet basil leaves; 1/4 cup dry white wine; 4 cups chicken stock, hot; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I like Cholula); 1 cup diced smoked chicken (recipe follows); 1 cup cooked black beans; 1 cup broccoli florets; 2 cups heavy cream; salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste; 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with a small amount of warm water (optional)

Why it works: Oregano and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,390 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Oregano + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,390 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Thyme + oreganotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together791 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,768 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds richness and flavor to the vegetables and enriches the finished soup when stirred in at the end.
Chicken stock: Forms the liquid base of the soup, and reducing it concentrates its flavor.
Heavy cream: Adds richness and a smooth, velvety body to the soup.
Black beans: Add body and an earthy texture that thickens the soup slightly.
Dry white wine: Deglazes the pan, lifting browned bits and adding acidity and aroma.
Cornstarch: Thickens the soup when mixed with warm water and added to the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Reduce the stock by one-third. Reducing concentrates the stock's flavor and gives the soup body before the cream goes in. Simmering too hard or too long can scorch the base or overly thicken it.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, carrot, celery, broccoli, thyme, oregano, basil):

Parsnipfits better
Eggplantfits better
Tomatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, carrot, celery, broccoli, thyme, oregano, basil. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Sweet Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Build the base

Add the rest and finish

Smoke the chicken

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)