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 ↓
Baked Pork and Beans
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 the beans
Soak the beans in cold water overnight.
In the morning, simmer the beans in fresh cold water until soft enough to pierce with a pin, avoiding boiling them until they burst.
If desired, boil the onion with the beans.
Drain the beans in a colander and rinse with cold water.
Assemble and bake
Place the beans in a bean pot.
Pour boiling water over the salt pork, scrape the rind until white, and cut it into ½ inch strips.
Bury the pork in the beans, leaving only the rind exposed.
Mix the salt, mustard, and molasses in a cup, fill with hot water, and pour over the beans.
Add enough water to cover the beans.
Keep covered with water until the last hour, then lift the pork to the surface to crisp.
Bake for 8 hours at 350°F (175°C).
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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Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 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
- Beans
- Provide the main body and starch of the dish, softening during long simmering and baking.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that renders into the beans, while its rind crisps on top.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color as it caramelizes slowly during the long bake.
- Mustard
- Contributes a sharp, pungent note that balances the sweetness of the molasses.
The step that matters
Simmer the beans until just tender. Beans that boil hard burst and turn mushy, while under-cooked beans stay firm. Stopping at the pin-piercing point keeps their skins intact through the long bake.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, mustard, molasses):
- Lettucefits better
- Welsh onionfits better
- Broccolifits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, mustard, molasses. 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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