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Three Bean Potluck Casserole

"This a great dish for a crowd--it can be doubled or tripled. Ingredients can be kept on hand and preparation is simple and fast! Also can be made in slow cooker."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and kidney beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 364 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

4 to 6 servings
Prep15 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut the bacon into pieces and cook in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Move the bacon to a plate, leaving the fat in the skillet.

  2. Add the chopped onion and ground beef to the skillet. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the meat, until browned and no pink remains, about 8 minutes. The beef should reach 160°F (71°C).

  3. Spoon off excess fat. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and dry mustard, and simmer for 3 minutes until slightly thickened.

  4. Drain the kidney beans and butter beans. Stir them into the skillet with the baked beans, then add about two-thirds of the cooked bacon and mix well.

  5. Scatter the remaining bacon over the top. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes until bubbling hot throughout.

  6. Let the casserole rest for 10 minutes before serving so it sets slightly.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beans + kidney beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Vinegar and mustard share little aroma chemistry, yet 14,067 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, mustard, beans):

  1. Sesameabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Kidney beansthe original
  3. Lima beansabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, mustard, beans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).