Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Soak the beans overnight in water.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Cook the soup
In a large pot, combine beans, water, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until beans are tender.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove bay leaf before serving.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,443 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried beans
- Form the body of the soup and thicken it as their starches soften during simmering.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savory depth as it softens in the broth.
- Carrots
- Contribute natural sweetness and body as they soften in the simmering liquid.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic, savory flavor as it softens in the broth.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma that mellows and deepens during long simmering.
The step that matters
Simmer until the beans are tender. Dried beans must cook long enough for their starches to fully soften; undercooked beans stay firm and can taste chalky, while the simmer should stay gentle so the skins don't split and the broth stays clear.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pepper):
- Cuminfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pepper. 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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