Why it works: Mint and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,372 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Beryl Cisler
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak one pint of dried lima beans overnight.
Drain the beans.
Cover them with freshly boiling water; cook slowly for one hour.
Drain off the water.
Cook and season
Cover again with boiling water, add one-sixteenth teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, a sprig of mint if you have it, and one teaspoon salt.
Cook until tender.
Drain and season with salt, pepper, butter and one cup of hot cream or make a plain white sauce and pour over beans.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Beans | not in our table | 0 |
| Peppermint | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Mint + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,372 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + minttop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Beans + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried lima beans
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and creamy when cooked slowly.
- Hot cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the cooked beans.
- Bicarbonate of soda (in the method)
- Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the beans soften more quickly.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat for richer flavour and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Cook until tender. Dried beans must be cooked long enough to fully soften; stopping early leaves them starchy and firm, while the added alkali speeds softening but can make beans mushy if overcooked.
Swap the mint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, cream, pepper):
- Celeryfits better
- Cuminfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, cream, pepper. 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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