Name: Oriental Baked Beans
Ingredients: 2 cups dry beans; 1 head garlic, peeled; 1 bunch parsley; 1 medium green pepper, finely chopped; 2 ripe tomatoes (or 3 to 4 tablespoons canned tomatoes); 3 tablespoons olive oil; Salt, to taste; Red pepper, to taste; 2 cups plain water

Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Oriental Baked Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

Soak the beans in plain water for 10 to 12 hours.
Drain and boil the beans for 10 to 15 minutes, then strain.

Cook and serve

In a suitable vessel, combine the beans, garlic, parsley, green pepper, tomato juice, olive oil, and water.
Season with salt and red pepper to taste when the beans are nearly half done.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) or cook on a medium fire until the beans are tender.
Serve with lemon if desired.

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.

Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Dry beans: Provide the main body and starch that becomes soft and creamy during soaking and cooking.
Olive oil: Adds fat for richness and carries flavor through the beans.
Tomatoes: Add acidity, moisture and savory depth to the cooking liquid.
Garlic: Contributes aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook until fully tender before finishing. Acidic ingredients such as tomatoes can slow the softening of beans, so they may need longer than expected. Judge doneness by texture, not by the clock, before serving.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, parsley, pepper, tomato, olive):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, parsley, pepper, tomato, olive. 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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Oriental Baked Beans