Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
String-beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select very young beans that snap when bent. Tip and tail them, removing the strings.
Cut broad beans in halves lengthwise and crosswise; cut small beans once or twice.
Soak the beans in cold water for 30 minutes.
Cook
Bring a kettle of water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt.
Drain the beans and add them to the boiling water. Boil for 20 minutes if very young, or 30 to 45 minutes if older.
Do not cover the kettle while boiling. Once tender, drain the beans thoroughly.
Finish and serve
Return the beans to the saucepan and add a large lump of butter, vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
Set the saucepan in a warm place until the butter melts, then serve.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,376 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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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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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- String beans
- Form the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender, edible texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a glossy coating that carries the seasoning over the beans.
- Vinegar
- Adds a bright acidity that balances the richness of the butter.
The step that matters
Drain thoroughly once tender. Water left on the cooked beans dilutes the melted butter and vinegar, so the finish becomes watery rather than coating the beans.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, vinegar, pepper, parsley):
- Black-eyed peafits about as well
- Chickpeafits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, vinegar, pepper, parsley. 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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