Why it works: Beans and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,159 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Crush the soup bone or have the butcher crush it.
Start with half the cold water in a pot, bring to a boil and skim off any foam.
Pick out any faulty or discolored beans, wash them thoroughly, and place them in a separate pot with the remaining cold water.
Bring the beans to a boil, then add them to the pot with the meat and add the chopped celery or onion.
Simmer
Simmer slowly for 2.5 hours, stirring frequently and covering the pot to prevent sticking.
Once the beans are soft, add the boiling water and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
Rub the mixture through a colander to remove skins, then return it to the kettle.
Skim off any grease and cook slowly for another hour, stirring often.
Finish
Before serving, stir in the juice of a lemon for added flavor.
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 + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,159 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beans
- Provide the main body, and when rubbed through a colander they thicken the soup.
- Soup bone
- Releases flavor and gelatin into the water during long simmering, adding body.
- Celery or onion
- Adds aromatic flavor to the broth as it simmers.
- Lemon juice (in the method)
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the finished soup.
The step that matters
Simmering slowly and stirring often. Beans and starch settle and scorch on the bottom of the pot at low heat, which can stick and burn. Frequent stirring and a cover keep heat even and prevent scorched flavor.
“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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