Name: String Bean and Almond
Ingredients: cold boiled beans; lettuce leaves; almonds; French dressing

Why it works: Beans and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 500 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

String Bean and Almond

Ingredients

cold boiled beans
lettuce leaves
almonds
French dressing

Directions

Arrange cold boiled beans on lettuce leaves.
Garnish with almonds.
Serve with French dressing.

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.

Beans + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lettuce + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together210 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Beans + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together238 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled beans: Form the main body of the salad and provide its tender, bite-sized texture.
Almonds: Add a crunchy texture and nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft beans.
French dressing: Adds moisture, acidity and savoury flavour that coats the beans and leaves.