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String Beans,

A German-style dish of string beans cooked with butter, onion, and optional bacon, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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String Beans,

Why it works: Onion and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,242 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

String Beans,

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and remove strings from the beans, then cut them into 1-inch pieces.

Cook

  1. In a kettle, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Add the beans and pour in boiling water until covered.

  4. Cook slowly until nearly dry, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

  5. If preferred, you can substitute diced bacon for the butter.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Onion + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  2. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + beanstop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

String beans
Form the bulk of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer slowly in the liquid.
Butter
Adds fat and rich flavor as the base for cooking the onion and beans.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth as it softens in the butter.

The step that matters

Cook slowly until nearly dry. Cooking gently lets the beans become tender while the remaining liquid reduces and concentrates flavor. Over-boiling can leave the beans mushy, while stopping too early leaves them watery, so the timing matters.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  2. Sesamefits about as well
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Soybeanfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, 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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