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Beryl Cisler

A hearty soup made from soaked black beans, water, onion, celery, mustard, spices, butter, flour, eggs, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Beryl Cisler

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak beans overnight, drain and add cold water, rinse thoroughly.

  2. Fry the onion in two tablespoons butter.

  3. Add the onion to the beans with water and celery.

  4. Cook slowly until the beans are soft, three or four hours, adding more water as it boils away.

Finish the soup

  1. Rub through a strainer, add the seasonings and heat.

  2. Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan, add the flour and the soup gradually; cook until well blended.

  3. Cut lemon and eggs in thin slices and serve in soup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

820Calories
29 gProtein
19 gFat
132 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Soupnot in our table0

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

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Black beans
Form the body of the soup as they soften and break down when strained.
Butter
Carries the flavor of the onion and forms the base of the flour roux.
Flour
Cooked in butter, it thickens the soup and gives it a smooth body.
Eggs
Hard-boiled slices add richness and a mild, creamy contrast to the soup.

The step that matters

Cook the flour and butter until well blended. Cooking the flour in butter before adding the soup removes its raw taste and lets it thicken evenly without lumps.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, celery, pepper, butter, flour, tea, mustard):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, celery, pepper, butter, flour, tea, mustard. 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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