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 the beans
String, snap, and wash the beans.
Boil the beans in plenty of water for about 15 minutes, then drain.
Cook with the pork
Put the beans back in about 2 quarts of boiling water.
Boil a piece of salted pork for 1 hour, then add the beans.
Continue boiling for 1.5 hours.
For shelled beans, boil for 30 minutes in enough water to cover.
Season shelled beans with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of butter.
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 + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 and absorb the flavor of the pork and seasoning.
- Salted pork
- Adds savory, salty flavor and fat to the cooking water as it simmers with the beans.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the finished beans.
The step that matters
Long simmering of the beans. Beans need a long, steady boil to become fully tender. Cooking them too briefly leaves them tough, while the salted pork's salt and fat flavor the cooking liquid throughout.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, butter):
- Beansthe original
- Soybeanfits about as well
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Sesamefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, 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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