Why it works: Lima beans and cream work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
Fresh Lima Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the lima beans in just enough water to cover them until tender.
Uncover and let the water simmer away.
Add the sweet cream (or thickened milk) and salt to taste just 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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Lima beans + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together152 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lima beans
- Provide the starchy body and soft, tender texture of the dish.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving a smooth, creamy coating and mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a light sauce when used in place of sweet cream.
- Soft butter
- Adds fat that enriches the milk and helps it blend smoothly with the flour.
The step that matters
Add the cream just before serving. Cream and thickened milk can separate, curdle or scorch if kept simmering for long. Adding them at the end keeps the sauce smooth and creamy.
“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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