Why it works: Beans and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,080 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans overnight.
Make the soup
Boil the beans until soft, then strain them through a colander and return the bean liquid to the pot.
In a bowl, mix the milk with the flour until smooth, then add to the pot.
Add salt to taste.
Serve
Cut the toast into small squares and place them in a soup tureen.
Pour the soup over the toast and serve hot.
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 + flourtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,080 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beans + milktop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,266 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they 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
- Dried beans
- Provide the main body and starch that give the soup its substance.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and a soft, smooth mouthfeel to the soup.
- White flour
- Thickens the liquid as its starch swells when heated, so the soup becomes smoother.
The step that matters
Mix the flour into the milk until smooth before adding it to the pot. Flour dropped straight into hot liquid clumps, because the outer starch gels before the inside disperses. Whisking it smooth in cold milk first lets the starch spread evenly, so it thickens the soup without lumps.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Milletfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour. 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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