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Pork and Beans

A preserved pork and bean dish canned and processed for shelf stability.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pork and Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the beans overnight or use them without soaking.

  2. In a large kettle, cover the beans with plenty of water.

  3. Cook the beans until they are plump and mealy when crushed.

  4. Drain the water and fill the beans into cans.

Pack and process

  1. Add 1 ounce of side meat to each can and fill with sauce.

  2. Cap the cans.

  3. Exhaust No. 1 cans for 3 minutes.

  4. Process for 55 minutes at 240°F (115°C).

  5. Exhaust No. 2 cans for 3 minutes.

  6. Process for 55 minutes at 245°F (118°C).

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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Beans + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together369 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Meat + tomatotop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,438 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Beans + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Beans
Form the bulk of the dish, softening during cooking to become plump and mealy.
Side meat
Adds fat and savory flavor to the beans as they process in the can.
Light tomato sauce
Supplies moisture and acidity that flavor the beans during processing.

The step that matters

Exhaust the cans before processing. Exhausting drives air out of the cans before sealing and processing, which helps prevent spoilage and keeps the contents safe and properly sealed. Skipping or shortening this step risks an unsafe, poorly preserved product.

“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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