Why it works: Beans and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Boil the soaked beans until tender.
Assemble and bake
Place diced salt pork at the bottom of a pan.
Layer the cooked beans on top of the salt pork.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Add vinegar, sugar, and catsup.
Cover with water and bake in a covered pan for 4 hours.
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.
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Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pork + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,563 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Beans + vinegartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,347 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,587 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beans
- Provide the main body and starchy texture of the dish.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders into the beans.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and catsup.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the beans a caramelized, browned flavor.
- Catsup
- Adds tomato sweetness, acidity, and body to the sauce.
The step that matters
Covered baking for 4 hours. Long, covered baking lets the beans soften fully and absorb the sauce slowly. Too little water or uncovered baking can dry the beans out and leave them tough.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, vinegar, sugar):
- Sesamefits better
- Soybeanfits better
- Peanutfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, vinegar, sugar. 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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