Why it works: Beans and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,733 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans overnight.
Drain the beans and add 1 pint of fresh water.
Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, then drain again.
Make the soup
Pour in 1 quart of cold water and add the bacon or side pork.
When the beans are tender, remove some for baked beans.
Mash the remaining beans and season with salt and pepper.
Mix in 2 teaspoons of flour and butter until smooth.
Pass the mixture through a colander into a tureen over diced toast.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + flourtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,080 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Form the body of the soup once cooked and mashed, thickening it with starch.
- Bacon or side pork
- Adds savory, salty flavor to the cooking water as it simmers with the beans.
- Flour
- Thickens the mashed bean liquid into a smooth, body-rich soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Mash the remaining beans and mix in flour and butter until smooth. Flour starch thickens only when it is evenly dispersed and heated in liquid; stirring it in lumps risks a grainy, uneven texture. Mixing it smoothly with the butter and mashed beans helps the soup thicken evenly.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, flour, butter):
- Almondfits about as well
- Beansthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Black-eyed peafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, flour, butter. 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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