Name: Ham and Lima Bean Casserole
Ingredients: 1½ cup cubed cooked ham; 1 cup cooked lima beans; 1 (8 oz) can cream-style corn; 1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or Monterey jack); 2 tbsp minced onion; 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce; ⅔ cup Bisquick baking mix; ⅓ cup cornmeal; 1 egg; ¼ cup milk

Why it works: Lima beans and corn work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 222 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. 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.

Lima beans + corntop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together222 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Corn + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,205 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Lima beans + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together331 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,655 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the batter and help it set into a firm topping.
Bisquick baking mix: Forms the batter topping that bakes into a soft, cake-like crust.
Cornmeal: Adds a coarse texture and slight corn flavor to the batter topping.
Cheese: Melts into the filling, adding fat, savoriness and browning at the surface.
Cream-style corn: Adds moisture and sweetness to the filling.
Milk: Hydrates the dry mix so the batter spreads and bakes evenly.

The step that matters

Spreading the batter to the edge. The batter must reach the casserole edges while the meat mixture is hot, so the topping bakes evenly and seals the filling. Uneven spreading leaves bare filling exposed and dense, undercooked patches in the topping.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, lima beans, cream, corn, cheese, sauce, egg):

Asparagusfits better
Mustardfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, lima beans, cream, corn, cheese, sauce, egg. 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	100g cooked	242
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9

Ham and Lima Bean Casserole