Name: Baked Pork and Beans
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked navy beans; 1 cup diced pork; ½ cup molasses; ¼ cup brown sugar; 1 teaspoon dry mustard; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1 onion, chopped; 2 cups water

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 Pork and 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. 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large baking dish, combine the cooked navy beans and diced pork.
In a separate bowl, mix molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, salt, black pepper, and chopped onion.
Pour the mixture over the beans and pork.
Add water and stir gently to combine.

Bake

Cover the dish and bake for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

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 + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,242 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).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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: Provide the bulk and starchy body that holds the sauce during baking.
Pork: Adds savory meaty flavor and fat that enriches the beans as they cook.
Molasses: Adds dark sweetness and depth, and helps the sauce brown as it bakes.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and caramel notes that thicken and darken the sauce.
Onion: Contributes savory aroma and sweetness that builds the flavor base.

The step that matters

Covered baking with occasional stirring. Baking covered keeps moisture in so the beans cook through without drying. Stirring spreads the thickening sauce evenly and prevents scorching on the bottom of the dish.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Lettucefits better
Sweet potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, molasses, sugar, 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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Baked Pork and Beans