Why it works: Beans and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,080 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the beans overnight in water.
Cook and finish
In a large pot, combine the soaked beans, water, and fat beef.
Bring to a boil and simmer for three hours.
Strain the soup through a fine sieve.
If the soup is too thin, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with a little water and stir it in.
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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Beans + flourtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,080 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beans + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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
What each ingredient does
- Beans
- Provide the main body and starch that give the soup its substance.
- Fat beef
- Adds richness and savory flavor to the broth as it simmers.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup when stirred in as a slurry.
The step that matters
Adding the flour slurry. Flour must be mixed with a little cold water before stirring in, otherwise it clumps and does not thicken the soup evenly.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour):
- Lentilsfits better
- Almondfits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour. 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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