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 ↓
To Boil Haricot Beans
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Place the haricot beans in a pot with cold water and a little coarse sea salt.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until they begin to crack.
Drain the water and let the beans dry on the hob.
Serve with gravy or dripping, seasoned with pepper and salt.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Haricot beans
- Form the main body of the dish, softening during long simmering until tender.
The step that matters
Simmer until the beans begin to crack. Dry beans need long, gentle simmering to soften fully. Stopping too early leaves them firm, while boiling too hard can break the skins and make them mushy.
“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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