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Black Bean Soup

A hearty soup made from soaked black beans, beef or veal bone, celery, red pepper, and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the black beans overnight.

  2. In a pot, combine the soaked beans and a large quantity of water.

Cook and strain

  1. Add the beef or veal bone and cook over medium heat.

  2. Stir frequently until the beans are reduced to a pulp.

  3. Strain the mixture through a colander and return the liquid to the pot.

Season and simmer

  1. Add chopped celery, red pepper, and onion.

  2. Simmer for three to four hours before serving for best flavor.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 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

Black beans
Form the body of the soup as they break down into a pulp.
Beef or veal bone
Adds savory, rich flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the soup base.
Celery
Contributes a fresh, vegetal aroma to the soup.

The step that matters

Stirring until the beans reach a pulp. Beans must be cooked long enough and stirred often so they break down fully; under-cooked beans stay firm and the soup turns grainy and thin rather than smooth and thick.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, pepper, onion):

  1. Beansthe original
  2. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Lentilsfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, pepper, onion. 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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