Name: String Beans
Ingredients: string beans; pork; butter

Why it works: Beans and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

String Beans

Ingredients

string beans
pork
butter

Directions

Prepare

Break off both ends of the string beans and remove the strings.
Cut the beans into three pieces and soak them in cold water for a few minutes.
Drain the beans and add them to the kettle with cooking pork.

Cook and serve

Cook for 30 minutes or until tender enough to be pricked with a fork.
Serve with butter.

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.

Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,933 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,799 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

String beans: Provide the main vegetable bulk and become tender through long simmering with the pork.
Pork: Adds savory flavor to the cooking liquid that the beans absorb during cooking.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth fat note when served over the cooked beans.