Name: Pork and Bean Casserole Recipe
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon vegetable oil; 350g lean pork shoulder, cut into chunks; 1 large onion, chopped; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 2 carrots, sliced; 1 unpeeled medium apple, cored and chopped; 400g chopped tomatoes; 2 tins haricot or cannellini beans in water, rinsed and drained; 300ml reduced-salt vegetable or chicken stock; 2 tablespoons tomato purée; 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce; 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs; 1 pinch ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

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 + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork shoulder: Browns for flavour and becomes tender during the long, moist cooking.
Haricot or cannellini beans: Hold their shape and add body and creaminess to the stewed sauce.
Chopped tomatoes: Provide acidity and liquid that forms the base of the sauce.
Tomato purée: Adds concentrated tomato flavour, colour and depth to the sauce.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness and body as they soften in the sauce.
Onion: Builds savoury sweetness as it softens in the hot oil.

The step that matters

Searing the pork over high heat. Browning the meat creates deep savoury flavours through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or stopping too early makes the meat steam, leaving it grey and less flavourful.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, clove, carrot, tomato, beans):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, garlic, clove, carrot, tomato, beans. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Cannellini Bean	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pork and Bean Casserole Recipe