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String Beans, a LA Roma

A simple dish of string beans cooked slowly with oil, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, and tomato juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

String Beans, a LA Roma

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the ends and remove the strings from the string beans, cutting only if they are longer than 3 inches.

  2. Wash the beans well in cold water.

Cook

  1. Place the beans in a baking dish with salad oil, minced onion, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  2. Cover and cook slowly over low heat.

  3. As the beans dry, add enough tomato juice to keep them moist, being careful not to let them burn.

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.

  1. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

String beans
The main vegetable, which softens gradually as it cooks covered over low heat.
Tomato juice
Adds moisture and tangy acidity, keeping the beans from drying out and scorching.
Salad oil
Carries fat that helps the beans cook evenly and brings a rounder flavor.
Minced onion
Adds savory aroma and a little sweetness as it softens in the cooking liquid.
Parsley
Contributes fresh, green aroma that brightens the finished beans.

The step that matters

Adding tomato juice as the beans dry. As liquid evaporates, the beans can scorch on the base of the dish. Adding tomato juice replaces the lost moisture and keeps the pan from burning, so add it in small amounts as needed.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, parsley, pepper, tomato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, parsley, pepper, tomato. 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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