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And White Beans and Peas

A stew of brisket, white peas, white beans, celery, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

And White Beans and Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the dried white peas and beans for 12 hours, or longer if very dry.

Make the stew

  1. In a stew pan, place the brisket, soaked peas, beans, and celery.

  2. Add enough water to cover the ingredients and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. Stew slowly until the meat is very tender and the peas and beans are soft.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the sugar and vinegar before serving.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Peas + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together949 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

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

  5. Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried white peas
Break down during slow stewing to thicken the broth and give body.
Dried white beans
Soften during stewing to add creamy texture and bulk to the stew.
Brisket
Slow cooking breaks down connective tissue, making the meat very tender.
Celery
Softens during stewing, adding mild flavour and body to the broth.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, starchy stew.

The step that matters

Stew slowly until the meat and legumes are fully soft. Low, slow heat is needed to break down the brisket's connective tissue and fully soften dried peas and beans. Stopping early leaves tough meat and firm legumes.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, celery, pepper, sugar, vinegar. 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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