Skip to main content
Main

Baked Beans

A baked bean dish with salt pork, molasses, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the beans in cold water, then boil for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the beans and soak them again in cold water, boiling until tender.

Season and bake

  1. Add molasses, white pepper, and salt if the pork is not salty enough.

  2. Cut the rind of the pork into 1-inch deep gashes and place it on top of the beans.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until brown.

  4. Mix the pork into the beans and bake in a covered dish for 3 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

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

  2. Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together491 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Pork + white peppertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together791 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl butyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Beans + white peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together87 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Pork + molassestop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together825 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Beans
Form the bulk of the dish and, once cooked tender, give it a soft, hearty body.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor, which slowly renders into the beans during baking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and dark color, and contributes to browning during baking.

The step that matters

Boiling the beans until tender. Dried beans must be fully softened before baking, because the acids and sugars in the sauce and the long bake will not soften them properly. Undercooked beans stay firm and grainy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, molasses):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, molasses. 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.

More baked beans recipes

Boston 154with Pork 8Canadian 8in Earthen Pots 3Chicago 3New England 3 See all 214 →

You might also like

Pork CakePork Cake107 recipesRoast PorkRoast Pork82 recipesMolasses SauceMolasses Sauce32 recipesGerman Style String BeansGerman Style String Beans7 recipes