Name: Beef and Bean Burger
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 can (540 mL/19 oz) low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed; 125 mL (½ cup) finely chopped onion; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 30 mL (2 tbsp) Dijon mustard; 5 mL (1 tsp) ground cumin; 7 mL (½ tbsp) paprika; 2 mL (½ tsp) salt; 1 mL (¼ tsp) black pepper; 1 egg; 454 g (1 lb) extra lean ground beef

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 ↓

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.

Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,188 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Black beans: Mashed beans add moisture and body, so the patties stay tender rather than dense.
Ground beef: Provides fat and protein that bind the patty and give it meaty flavour and juiciness.
Egg: Binds the mixture together so the patties hold their shape while baking.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharp acidity and flavour that balances the richness of the beef.
Onion: Adds moisture and savoury sweetness as it cooks through in the patty.

The step that matters

Firmly form the mixture into patties. Pressing the mixture firmly helps the patties hold together in the oven, since the beans and egg alone provide limited binding. Loose patties may crumble when cooked.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, garlic, mustard, cumin, pepper, egg):

Turmericfits better
Capersfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, garlic, mustard, cumin, pepper, 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Beef and Bean Burger