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Yankee Baked Beans

A baked bean dish with salt pork and sugar or molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Yankee Baked Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Boil the beans until they begin to crack.

  2. Place the beans in a baking pan.

  3. Score the pork across the top and place it in the middle of the beans.

  4. Add the sugar or molasses.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for two hours.

  2. Ensure the beans are very moist before baking to prevent them from drying out.

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 + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,587 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pork + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,579 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried beans
Provide the bulk and starchy, tender body of the dish as they soften during baking.
Salt fat pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that melts into the beans and browns the surface.
Sugar or molasses
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown and caramelize in the oven.

The step that matters

Keep the beans very moist before baking. Beans that dry out during a long bake become tough and pasty rather than tender. Moisture lets starch gelatinize fully and keeps the texture creamy.

Swap the beans

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

  1. Sesamefits about as well
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Peanutfits about as well
  4. Beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, 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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