Why it works: Beans and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,733 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
String Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the string beans in cold water for 30 minutes.
Bring 1 quart of water to a boil.
Cook
Add the soaked string beans and salt pork to the boiling water.
Season with pepper and boil for 2 hours.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- String beans
- Form the body of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer in the liquid.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the beans and the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Boil for 2 hours. Beans need a long, steady simmer to turn fully tender and absorb the flavor of the salt pork. Cutting the boil short leaves them firm and under-seasoned.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper):
- Black-eyed peafits about as well
- Beansthe original
- Soybeanfits about as well
- Sesamefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, 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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