Why it works: Beans and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Beans, with Pork
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans overnight in water.
Drain and rinse the beans.
In a pot, cover the beans with fresh water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain again.
Bake
In a baking dish, layer the beans, pork, and onion.
In a bowl, mix brown sugar, molasses, mustard, salt, and pepper with 4 cups of water. Pour over the beans.
Cover the dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 4-5 hours, adding water as needed.
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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Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,242 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Navy beans
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and creamy as they cook slowly.
- Pork
- Adds savory fat and meaty flavor that seasons the beans as they bake.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps form a rich, caramelized color during long baking.
- Molasses
- Contributes deep sweetness, dark color, and a robust flavor to the sauce.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth as it softens in the baking liquid.
The step that matters
Adding water during the long bake. Beans absorb liquid as they cook slowly, and without enough water they can dry out and scorch, while the sauce thickens. Topping up keeps the beans moist and tender.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, sugar, molasses, mustard, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, sugar, molasses, mustard, 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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