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Haricot Beans

A stew of white beans cooked in stock, seasoned with brown sauce, sugar, sea salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,733 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Haricot Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the white beans in boiling water until the skins come off.

  2. Transfer the beans to cold water.

Cook the stew

  1. Place the beans in a stewpan with good stock and boil until nearly glazed.

  2. Add brown sauce and shake to combine.

  3. Season with sugar, coarse sea salt, and pepper.

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.

  1. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Beans + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,587 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,303 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

White beans
Form the body of the stew and soften to a tender, creamy texture.
Good stock
Supplies the liquid that cooks the beans and carries flavour through the stew.
Brown sauce
Adds savoury depth and colour to the liquid as it reduces.

The step that matters

Boil until nearly glazed. Reducing the stock too far can leave the beans dry and sticky, while stopping too early leaves a thin, watery stew. Watch the liquid as it thickens, since it concentrates quickly and the brown sauce adds more body once it is stirred in.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, sugar, pepper):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Sesamefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, sugar, pepper. 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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