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Cream of Lima Beans

A creamy soup made from lima beans, butter, milk, cream, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lima beans and milk work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 132 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Cream of Lima Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beans

  1. Put over the fire a quart of lima beans in boiling water to cover them.

  2. When nearly tender add a bay leaf, half a white onion, and salt and white pepper to taste.

  3. Let them cook until very tender.

  4. Remove from the fire.

Make the soup

  1. Mash through a colander with the water in which they were boiled.

  2. Put back in the saucepan on the range and let it come to a boil.

  3. Add a heaping tablespoonful of butter and a pint of boiling milk, and stir well.

  4. Remove and press through a puree sieve so that it is smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat four tablespoonfuls of cream.

  2. Add the cream when the soup is in the tureen and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

316Calories
16 gProtein
14 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lima Bean1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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 Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Lima beans + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together132 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  2. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + lima beanstop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Cream + white peppertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,439 recipes
  5. Milk + white peppertop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,304 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lima beans
Provide the main body and starchy texture that thickens the soup when mashed.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a smooth, rich body to the puree.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel.
Cream
Stirred in at the end to add richness and a light, velvety finish.

The step that matters

Press the soup through a puree sieve. Pressing removes fibrous skins and small lumps left after mashing, which is what gives the soup its smooth texture. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the soup grainy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, lima beans, milk):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, lima beans, milk. 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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