Why it works: Beans and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,587 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
French Beans, Plain
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the strings and stalks from the French beans.
If they are old, split them.
Cook
Place the beans in a saucepan with plenty of boiling water, sugar, and salt.
Boil until tender, checking for doneness by tasting.
Boil quickly in plenty of water in an uncovered saucepan to retain color.
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.
-
Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,587 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- French beans
- The main vegetable; cooking softens its fibres to a tender bite.
- Sugar
- Adds a slight sweetness that rounds out the savoury flavour of the beans.
The step that matters
Boil quickly in plenty of water, uncovered. Green colour comes from chlorophyll, which turns dull olive-brown with prolonged heat and acids. A fast boil in a large volume of water, uncovered, keeps the cooking short and lets acids escape, so the beans stay bright green.
“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.
You might also like
German Style String Beans7 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.