Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,399 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Brown Haricots with Piquante Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beans
Boil the beans without soaking for 1.5 hours or until tender.
Pour off the cooking liquid.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Fry a handful of the beans for 10 minutes.
Add the flour and stir until smooth.
Add the reserved cooking liquid, vinegar, Marmite, and seasoning to taste, then bring to a boil.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the cooked beans.
Serve with any green vegetable.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,399 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,547 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + tarragontop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together788 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brown haricot beans
- Provide the main bulk and starchy, tender texture of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour in the base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce by absorbing liquid as it cooks, giving it body.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances its richness.
- Marmite
- Adds deep savoury, umami flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the flour into the butter until smooth before adding liquid. Flour must be cooked briefly in the fat and blended smooth before liquid is added; otherwise it clumps and the sauce turns lumpy instead of silky and thick.
Flavor stand-ins for the tarragon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, vinegar, pepper):
- Tarragonthe original
- Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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