Name: Salad of White Beans
Ingredients: 1 pint cold boiled white beans; 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives; 1 tablespoon finely chopped chervil; Tarragon vinegar; Vinaigrette sauce; 2 tablespoons smoked herring, shredded; 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley; Cayenne pepper to taste

Why it works: Chervil and tarragon 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 ↓

Salad of White Beans

Ingredients

1 pint cold boiled white beans
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped chervil
Tarragon vinegar
Vinaigrette sauce
2 tablespoons smoked herring, shredded
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

Boil the beans as directed for Red Bean Salad.
Once the beans are cold, add all the other ingredients.
Mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Serve very cold.

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.

Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together824 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together370 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,563 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together589 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together774 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

White beans: Form the bulk of the salad and provide its starchy, creamy body.
Smoked herring: Adds a smoky, salty savour that contrasts with the beans.
Vinaigrette sauce: Supplies moisture and acidity that dress the beans and carry the herbs.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds sharp acidity and a light anise aroma to the dressing.

The step that matters

Chill the salad for 2 hours. Resting cold lets the beans absorb the vinaigrette and flavours meld. Beans dressed while still warm can turn mushy or dull, so cool them fully before adding the other ingredients.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chive, chervil, tarragon, vinegar, sauce, parsley, pepper):

Lentilsfits better
Chestnutfits better
Black-eyed peafits about as well
Beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chive, chervil, tarragon, vinegar, sauce, parsley, 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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Salad of White Beans