Name: Ground Beef-topped Baked Beans
Ingredients: 1 pound ground sirloin; 1/3 pound smoked bacon; 1 large green bell pepper, chopped; 1 cup white onions, chopped; 8 ounces tomato sauce; 2 teaspoons mustard; 4 tablespoons liquid hickory smoke; 1 cup water; 4 tablespoons white vinegar; 2 teaspoons minced garlic; 1 teaspoon thyme; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 4 cans pork and beans; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mustard + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together913 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground sirloin: Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor once browned.
Smoked bacon: Adds fat and smoky, salty flavor to the meat sauce as it renders.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the sauce thicken and caramelize slightly during baking.
Tomato sauce: Provides acidity, body and moisture to the sauce.
White vinegar: Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and tomato.
Liquid hickory smoke: Adds a concentrated smoky aroma that carries through the dish.

The step that matters

Simmer the meat sauce before baking. Simmering for 5 minutes lets the sweet, acidic and smoky flavors meld and begin to thicken the sauce. Skipping or rushing this leaves the sauce thin and the flavors sharp once it is poured over the beans.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, sauce, mustard, vinegar, garlic, thyme):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Broccolifits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, sauce, mustard, vinegar, garlic, thyme. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Smoke	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Ground Beef-topped Baked Beans