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Baked Beans

A dish of beans cooked with salt pork, molasses, and baking soda, baked for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Baked Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Parboil the beans

  1. Soak the beans in cold water overnight.

  2. Drain the beans.

  3. Place the beans in fresh cold water and bring to a boil.

  4. When boiling, change the water.

  5. Add the baking soda and boil until the beans are tender but not broken.

Assemble the pot

  1. Strain the beans and transfer them to a bean pot.

  2. In boiling water, cook the salt pork for a few minutes.

  3. Place the salt pork rind side down in the beans.

  4. Partially bury the rind in the beans.

  5. Add the molasses and boiling water.

Bake

  1. Bake for 3 to 4 hours.

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.

  1. Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together491 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Pork + molassestop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together825 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

Beans
Provide the main body and starchy, creamy texture once cooked slowly until tender.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory depth as it renders into the beans during baking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a rich, deep flavor to the sauce.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping bean skins soften and the beans tenderize.

The step that matters

Boil the beans until tender but not broken. Beans keep softening in the oven, so overcooking before baking can split the skins and turn them mushy. Stop when they are tender but still hold their shape.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, molasses):

  1. Beansthe original
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Sesamefits less well
  4. Nutsfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, molasses. 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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