Why it works: Beans and summer savory share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 39 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Turtle Soup From Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak one quart of black beans overnight.
Boil the beans in a proper quantity of water, about a gallon, until cooked.
Remove the beans from the pot and strain them through a colander.
Return the pressed bean flour to the pot in which they were boiled.
Make the soup
Tie some thyme, a teaspoonful of summer savory, and parsley in a thin cloth and let it boil in the mixture.
Add a tablespoonful of cold butter, salt, and pepper.
Have ready four hard-boiled yolks of eggs quartered, and a few force meat balls.
Add the yolks, force meat balls, sliced lemon, and half a glass of wine to the soup just before serving.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Black Bean | 1/2 cup canned (120g) drained | 114 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Summer Savory | 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.
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Beans + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together39 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together671 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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, thickening into a rich, earthy purée when pressed.
- Cold butter
- Adds fat and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel when stirred into the hot soup.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Contribute a rich, creamy texture and body to the finished soup.
- Wine (in the method)
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the heavy bean base.
The step that matters
Add the yolks, force meat balls, sliced lemon, and half a glass of wine just before serving. Adding these at the end keeps the wine's aroma and the lemon's brightness fresh, and avoids overcooking the yolks, which can turn grainy and dull the soup.
“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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