Name: Broad Beans “a LA Creme.”
Ingredients: young broad beans; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); 1 cup milk; 1 or 2 egg yolks; 2 tablespoons cream

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Broad Beans “a LA Creme.”

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beans

Boil the young broad beans for a few minutes.

Make the sauce

In a saucepan, combine the boiled beans with butter, parsley, pepper, salt, and milk.
Cook until heated through, then remove the beans.
Thicken the sauce with beaten egg yolks and cream.

Serve

Serve the sauce over the beans.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,376 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,733 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

Young broad beans: Provide the main body of the dish, with a tender texture once boiled.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce that gently heats and thickens.
Egg yolks: Thicken the sauce as they heat, giving it a creamy, coating consistency.
Cream: Adds fat and body, making the sauce richer and smoother.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce with egg yolks. Egg yolks set when heated, but if the sauce gets too hot or boils, the proteins curdle and the sauce turns grainy. Heat gently and stir constantly.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, pepper, milk, egg, cream):

Walnutfits better
Almondfits about as well
Pistachiofits about as well
Beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, pepper, milk, egg, cream. 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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Broad Beans “a LA Creme.”