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Baking

Pork and Beans

A baked dish of beans, salt pork, molasses, and seasonings cooked slowly in an oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Pork and Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the beans

  1. Pick over the beans and soak them overnight.

  2. In the morning, wash and drain the beans, then boil them in cold water with baking soda for 30 minutes.

Bake

  1. Drain the beans and place them in an earthen pot with molasses.

  2. Layer in the salt pork, cut into slices, and cover with hot water.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 6 hours or longer, keeping covered to prevent burning.

Serve

  1. Serve in the cooking dish and save leftovers for cold beans or reheated baked beans.

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 + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

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

  5. Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,799 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 bulk that becomes tender during long, slow baking.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the bean skins soften during boiling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and color and helps the beans brown during slow baking.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that moistens the beans as it renders during baking.

The step that matters

Keep the pot covered while baking. Long baking with sugary molasses can scorch the bottom and dry the beans. Keeping the lid on holds moisture in so the beans cook gently and evenly.

“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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