Name: Kidney Beans a L'anglaise
Ingredients: dried white beans; coarse sea salt; black pepper; butter

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 ↓

Kidney Beans a L'anglaise

Ingredients

dried white beans
coarse sea salt
black pepper
butter

Directions

Soak the dried white beans in cold water overnight.
In the morning, drain and replace with tepid water, then boil in cold water.
Cook slowly for about two hours until the skins begin to crack.
Strain off the water, reserving it for soup stock if desired.
Cover the beans with a folded towel and keep them warm for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then stir in a small bit of butter before serving.

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.

Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,733 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,799 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).