Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Green Beans
Ingredients
Directions
String the green beans and break them into small pieces.
Cook the beans in boiling water or with meat; if using meat, add the beans two hours before the meat is done.
Add a little salt unless the meat is very salty.
Cook until the beans are tender, ensuring there is a little water left when done.
If not cooking with meat, boil the beans in hot water and season with butter and pepper when done; some may add a little cream.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Green beans + peppertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together369 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Green beans + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together154 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the green beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Green beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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