Name: Boston Baked Beans
Ingredients: 3 cups navy beans; ½ pound salt pork; ½ pound fresh pork; 3 tablespoons New Orleans molasses; 1 teaspoon baking soda; Coarse sea salt to taste; Black pepper to taste

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

Place the beans in a stewpan and cover with boiling water, adding the baking soda.
Parboil the beans for 30 minutes or until they shrivel, then pour off the water.
Cover the beans again with boiling water and simmer until tender but not soft.

Season and bake

Add the molasses and salt to taste.
Place the pork in a bean pot, sprinkle with black pepper, then add the beans and cover.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for at least 6 hours, adding water as needed.

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.

Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,733 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together491 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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

Navy beans: Provide the main body and starchy texture that becomes creamy during long, slow cooking.
Salt pork: Adds fat and savory depth that gradually flavors and enriches the beans as they bake.
Fresh pork: Contributes meaty richness and fat that softens into the beans during slow baking.
New orleans molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep caramel-like flavor as it bakes.
Baking soda: Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the bean skins soften during the initial soak and simmer.

The step that matters

Simmering until tender but not soft. Beans cooked too long before baking break down into mush, since they keep softening in the oven. Stopping at tender leaves them intact, so they hold their shape through the long bake.

“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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Boston Baked Beans