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Dried Bean Soup

A hearty soup made from dried beans, onion, lard, flour, milk, and optional parsley and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Dried Bean Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Parboil the beans with 2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 20 minutes.

  2. Strain through a colander and rinse with several waters.

  3. Boil the beans in 4 quarts of water until tender, about 3 hours.

  4. Add celery in the last hour.

Make the soup

  1. Cook the onion and drippings in a stewpan for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the beans, saving the cooking water.

  3. Add the drained beans to the stewpan with the onion.

  4. Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour.

  5. Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring often.

  6. Gradually add the reserved bean cooking water until the mixture is like thick cream.

  7. Rub through a puree strainer.

  8. Add salt and pepper.

  9. Cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. If desired, stir in the beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

  2. Serve.

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.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  4. Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried beans
Form the main body of the soup and, once cooked and pureed, give it its thick texture.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens in the drippings.
Flour
Thickens the soup as its starch absorbs liquid during cooking.
Drippings or lard
Carries flavor and fat, helping the onion cook and the soup feel rich.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the bean skins soften.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Gradually add the reserved bean cooking water. Flour thickens by absorbing liquid, and adding the liquid slowly while stirring lets each starch granule hydrate evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth, thick cream.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, flour, pepper, milk, butter, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Turmericfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, flour, pepper, milk, butter, egg. 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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