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White Bean Soup

A soup made from soaked white beans, carrots, onions, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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White Bean Soup

Why it works: Beans and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,443 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

White Bean Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the beans in cold water overnight.

  2. In a large pot, combine the soaked beans, cold water, carrots, and onions.

Cook the soup

  1. Boil for three hours.

  2. Strain the soup.

  3. Return the strained soup to the pot.

Finish

  1. Add the milk and butter.

  2. Boil for an additional 15 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

White beans
Provide the main body, and their starch thickens the soup as they cook and break down.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and help give the soup a fuller, more rounded flavor.
Onions
Build aroma and savory sweetness as they soften during the long simmer.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a soft, mellow sweetness from its natural milk sugars.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Adding the milk and boiling for an additional 15 minutes. Milk contains proteins and sugars that can scorch on the bottom of the pot or separate at a hard boil. Keep the heat controlled and stir so the soup stays smooth and creamy.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, milk, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, milk, butter. 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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