Name: Green French Beans
Ingredients: 163 green French beans; tarragon; chervil; chopped chives

Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Green French Beans

Ingredients

163 green French beans
tarragon
chervil
chopped chives

Directions

Boil the green French beans until tender.
Let them cool.
In a bowl, combine the cooled beans with tarragon, chervil, and chopped chives.

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.

Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together824 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together370 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together589 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Beans + chivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together180 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beans + cherviltop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together60 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).