Why it works: Beans and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,999 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
four peopleIngredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Combine one cup of beans, one quart of cold water, and a piece of soda as large as a bean.
Put over the fire until the water commences to boil well, then drain off.
Return beans to the fire with boiling water on them and add a piece of fat salt pork about four inches square.
Let them boil gently until the beans are very nearly done enough to eat, keeping plenty of liquor on them to last while baking.
Season and bake
Season the beans with one even teaspoonful of ginger, one teaspoon of sugar and two teaspoons of tomato catsup, white pepper and salt.
Score the rind of the pork and place the piece in the center of your baking dish, pouring the beans around it, but not over the top.
Place the rind of the pork on top.
Bake until the rind is crisp, which will probably be about three-fourths of an hour.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Beans + porktop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,999 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,711 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,828 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Ginger + tomatotop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,895 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + gingertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together609 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
- Beans
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and creamy as they cook slowly in liquid.
- Fat salt pork
- Adds richness and fat that flavours the beans, while its crisped rind browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tanginess of the tomato catsup and seasonings.
- Tomato catsup
- Adds acidity, sweetness and tomato flavour that gives the beans their characteristic colour and taste.
The step that matters
Keep plenty of liquor on the beans. Beans absorb liquid as they bake and can dry out or scorch before they are tender. Keeping them covered in cooking liquid while they finish in the oven keeps them moist and soft, and the liquid helps them absorb the seasonings.
Flavor stand-ins for the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, sugar, pork, tomato):
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Garlicabout as good a flavor fit
- Gingerthe original
- Corianderabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, sugar, pork, tomato. 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).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.