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 ↓
Baked Beans
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the beans
Soak the beans in water for 12 to 24 hours, changing the water every 6 hours.
Boil the soaked beans in water for 30 minutes to 3 hours until tender.
Assemble and bake
In a baking dish, place the piece of pork at the bottom.
Add the boiled beans on top of the pork.
Pour the tomato sauce over the beans.
Sprinkle with salt, sugar, and spices.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 to 2 hours.
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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,713 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 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
- Small white pea or navy beans
- Form the bulk of the dish and become tender and creamy when boiled and baked.
- Pork
- Adds savoury, fatty richness that flavours the beans as they bake.
- Tomato sauce
- Provides moisture and acidity that combine with the beans into a thick, saucy base.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the tomato sauce.
The step that matters
Boil the soaked beans until tender. Beans must be fully cooked before baking, because the acidic tomato sauce and short bake can leave dry starch centres or firm skins if they are undercooked. Cooking time varies with bean age and water hardness, so test for tenderness rather than relying only on the clock.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, sauce, sugar):
- Mustardfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Sweet potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, sauce, sugar. 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.
More baked beans recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.