Why it works: Beans and capsicum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,695 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Haricot Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beans
Boil white haricot beans until tender.
Serve with Maitre d'hotel or Bretonne sauce.
Finish the dish
Pound capsicums with butter and serve.
Add beef marrow for a richer dish.
Stew beans in stock for a flavorful dish.
Blend beans into a puree and mix with cream.
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 + capsicumtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,695 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Beans + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Capsicum + beeftop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,370 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White haricot beans
- Provide the main body, starch and bulk of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded flavor.
- Beef marrow
- Adds fat for richness and a fuller, meaty flavor.
- Stock
- Adds moisture and savory flavor as the beans stew.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a smoother, silkier texture in the puree.
The step that matters
Boil the beans until tender. Dried beans must be cooked long enough for their starch to gelatinise and the skins and interiors to soften. Stopping early leaves them firm and chalky, and every later step depends on that base.
Swap the capsicum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, sauce, butter, beef, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Capsicumthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, sauce, butter, beef, cream. 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.
More haricot beans recipes
You might also like
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipes
Beef Broth67 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.