Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
String Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut string beans into thin, uniform slices or slit them lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces.
Cook and serve
Boil in well-salted water with ¼ teaspoon baking soda for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve with plain butter or drawn butter with a hint of sugar.
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 + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,587 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- String beans
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they cook.
- Baking soda
- Raises the water's alkalinity, helping the beans soften and keep a bright green color.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky coating that carries the flavor of the beans.
- Sugar
- Adds a light sweetness that balances the salt in the butter.
The step that matters
Boil in well-salted water with baking soda. Baking soda makes the water alkaline, which softens the beans and keeps them green, but too much can make them mushy and dull. Salting the water seasons the beans from within as they cook.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar):
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Filbertfits better
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar. 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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