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Boston Baked Beans I

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,733 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boston Baked Beans I

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the beans overnight in cold water.

  2. Wash the beans well in a colander.

  3. Boil the beans in cold water. When the beans first boil, drain the water.

  4. Cover the beans with fresh boiling water.

  5. Score the rind of the pork.

  6. Add the scored pork to the beans.

  7. Simmer the beans gently until the skin cracks.

  8. Remove the pork from the beans.

  9. Drain the beans.

Bake

  1. Place the beans in a bean pot.

  2. Bury the pork in the center of the pot.

  3. Add 1 teaspoon salt to 1 pint of the water used to boil the beans. Pour the salted water into the pot.

  4. Sprinkle pepper over the beans.

  5. Add 1 large spoon of molasses on top.

  6. Cover the pot.

  7. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 6 to 8 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 + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Small white soup beans
Form the main body of the dish and soften into a tender, creamy texture during long cooking.
Pickled pork
Adds salty, savory fat that flavors the beans as it slowly renders into them.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color, and its sugars help the beans brown during baking.
Salt
Seasons the beans and the cooking liquid throughout the long bake.

The step that matters

Simmer the beans gently until the skin cracks. Vigorous boiling can split and break the bean skins and turn them mushy. A gentle simmer softens the beans evenly while keeping them whole.

“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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