Name: Baked Beans with Pork
Ingredients: 2 cups dried navy beans; 4 cups water; 1/2 pound salt pork; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1/4 cup molasses; 1 teaspoon mustard; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

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

Soak the beans overnight in water.
Drain and rinse the beans, then place them in a pot with 4 cups of fresh water.

Simmer

Add the salt pork, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, black pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Bake

Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 2 hours, adding water if necessary.

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.

Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,733 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 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

Navy beans: Form the body of the dish, becoming tender and creamy as they cook.
Salt pork: Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the beans during long cooking.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and helps build the deep, caramelized flavor of baked beans.
Molasses: Adds dark sweetness, color and a rich flavor while contributing to the thick sauce.
Mustard: Adds a sharp, tangy note that balances the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.

The step that matters

Bake and add water as needed. Long baking evaporates liquid and concentrates sugars. Without adding water when needed, the beans can dry out or scorch, and the sauce may not turn thick and glossy.

Swap the beans

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

Beansthe original
Chestnutfits about as well
Sesamefits less well
Lentilsfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against 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.

Pork Cake107 recipes

Roast Pork82 recipes

Molasses Sauce32 recipes

German Style String Beans7 recipes

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Baked Beans with Pork