Why it works: Beans and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pork and Beans
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Soak the beans overnight in water.
In the morning, drain the beans and place them in a pot.
Add the pork, chopped onion, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, salt, and pepper.
Pour in the water and bring to a boil.
Cook and serve
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 3-4 hours until beans are tender.
Serve hot.
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.
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Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,242 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried beans
- Form the bulk of the dish and become tender during the long simmer.
- Pork
- Adds savory flavor and richness to the beans as it cooks.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps create a rich, caramelized flavor.
- Molasses
- Adds depth, dark color, and a slightly bitter sweetness.
- Onion
- Contributes aromatic sweetness and savory base flavor.
The step that matters
Simmer until the beans are fully tender. Dried beans need a long, gentle simmer to soften their starch fully. Cooking too fast or too briefly can leave them firm or split, and salt added early has little effect on tenderness, so the cook should judge by texture rather than time alone.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, beans, sugar, molasses, mustard, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, beans, sugar, molasses, mustard, pepper. 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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