Why it works: Beans and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,470 recipes. Both carry trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Bean Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans for 3 hours.
Boil the beans until tender, changing the water before boiling.
Drain the beans and let them cool completely.
Assemble and serve
Chop the raw onion, olives, and parsley.
In a salad bowl, combine the beans, onion, olives, and parsley.
Mix in the salad oil and vinegar, 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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Beans + olivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,470 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,242 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,376 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beans
- Form the bulk of the salad and provide its main texture and body.
- Salad oil
- Adds fat and moisture, coating the beans and giving the salad a smooth mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the oil.
- Raw onion
- Contributes sharp, pungent flavour and a crisp bite.
The step that matters
Boil the beans until tender, changing the water before boiling.. Beans must be fully cooked, since undercooked dry beans can cause digestive problems and stay firm and starchy. Changing the water helps remove compounds that cause gas and off-flavours.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, olive, parsley, vinegar):
- Tomatofits better
- Lettucefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, olive, parsley, vinegar. 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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