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 ↓
Bean Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over the beans.
Wash the beans.
Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
Scrape the pork clean and cut it into thin slices.
Drain the beans.
Cook the beans
Put the beans in a pot with 6 quarts of boiling water and bicarbonate of soda, then cover the pot.
Heat the pot gradually.
Boil gently for 30 minutes.
Remove the scum as it rises.
Turn off the water.
Replenish with 6 quarts of fresh boiling water, then cover the pot.
Boil slowly for 1.5 hours.
Stir frequently to prevent scorching.
Add the sliced pork when the beans are tender and crack.
Finish and serve
Remove the pork.
Mash the beans into a paste using a wooden masher or press through a colander.
Return the pork and mashed beans to the pot.
Complete boiling.
Season lightly and serve.
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 + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 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
- Dried beans
- Their starch thickens the soup when mashed into a paste, giving it body.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Its alkalinity helps soften the bean skins so the beans cook tender.
- Pork
- Adds meaty flavour and fat to the soup as it cooks with the beans.
The step that matters
Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Beans are thick and starchy and settle toward the bottom of the pot during long simmering. Without stirring, they can stick and scorch, which gives a burnt taste to the whole soup.
“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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