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Black Bean Soup

A hearty soup made with dried black beans, bell peppers, garlic, onions, spices, and finished with cilantro and sour cream.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,188 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Black Bean Soup

Serves 12

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Pick over the beans.

  2. Place in large bean pot and add water to cover by at least 2 inches (~5 cm).

  3. Soak overnight, then change water.

Simmer and season

  1. Bring beans to a boil. Reduce heat, then simmer until beans start to soften, around ½ hour.

  2. Add bay leaves, bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, garlic, jalapeños, onions, and red wine vinegar.

  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Simmer ½ to 1 hour, until beans are soft.

  5. Take out bay leaves.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in cilantro.

  2. Add some sour cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

321Calories
28 gProtein
3 gFat
47 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

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

  4. Cumin + clovetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,306 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 body of the soup and thicken it as their starches soften during simmering.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma as they soften into the broth.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and deepens during long simmering.
Red wine vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, earthy flavour of the beans.
Bell peppers
Contribute sweetness and a fresh, vegetal flavour to the soup.

The step that matters

Simmer until the beans are fully soft. Dried beans contain starches and proteins that need prolonged heat to fully soften. Adding acid such as vinegar too early can slow this softening, so the beans may stay firm even after long cooking.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cumin, clove, garlic, onion, red wine, vinegar):

  1. Chickpeafits about as well
  2. Lentilsfits about as well
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Sesamefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cumin, clove, garlic, onion, red wine, vinegar. 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.

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