Why it works: Beans and banana share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 95 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-methyl-1-butanol acetate, which smells fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Dump everything except the onion into a crock pot or large pot and let sit for 6-24 hours.
Add the chopped onion and put heat on high.
Check every hour and add extra beer to make sure beans stay covered.
Cook for 8 hours.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Beans + bananatop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together95 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methyl-1-butanol acetate (fruity).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,351 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Pepper + basiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,292 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red white and black beans
- Provide the main body and starch that thickens the stew as they soften.
- Dark beer
- Adds liquid and a malty, bitter depth as it cooks down into the stew.
- Red wine vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, earthy flavour of the beans.
- Garlic
- Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens during long cooking.
- Jalapeno peppers
- Add heat and fresh pepper flavour to the stew.
The step that matters
Keeping the beans covered with liquid. Beans exposed to air can stop softening evenly and may scorch on the pot base during a long cook. Checking hourly and adding beer keeps them submerged so they cook through evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, jalapeno, pepper, parsley, basil, garlic):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, jalapeno, pepper, parsley, basil, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.