Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Haricot Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Soak and cook
Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
Strain the beans.
Let them stand for a day or two if possible.
Put the beans into a saucepan with boiling water and dripping.
Add ½ teaspoon salt.
Simmer gently for two hours or until quite soft.
Finish and serve
Drain the beans in a colander.
Return the beans to the saucepan.
Add the butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Stir over the fire for five minutes.
Serve in a hot vegetable dish.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 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
- Haricot beans (in the method)
- Form the bulk of the dish; they soften during long simmering to a tender, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, glossy finish when stirred into the hot beans.
- Dripping
- Adds savoury fat to the cooking water, enriching the flavour of the beans.
- Parsley
- Adds fresh, green aroma and a light herbal flavour at the end.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until quite soft. Dried beans need prolonged, gentle cooking to soften fully. A hard boil can break the skins and leave them mushy, while undercooked beans stay firm and starchy.
“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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