Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Bean and Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Rub the beans and tomatoes together through a colander.
Add the steamed rice and salt to taste.
Pour in boiling water or milk to achieve the desired soup consistency.
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.
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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,713 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + ricetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,017 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Boiled, mashed beans
- Mashed beans thicken the soup and give it a creamy, hearty body.
- Stewed tomatoes
- Stewed tomatoes add moisture, gentle acidity and a tangy flavor.
- Steamed rice
- Rice adds bulk and thickens the soup as it softens.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, rice, milk):
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, rice, 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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