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 ↓
Marrowfat Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Look over and wash the beans well.
Cook
Place the beans and salt pork in a pot on the stove.
Add salt and boil slowly for several hours until tender.
Cook down and serve.
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 + 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
- Marrowfat beans
- Form the main body of the dish and soften into a tender texture with long cooking.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the beans as they simmer.
The step that matters
Boil slowly for several hours until tender. Dried beans need long, gentle simmering so the starches soften fully and the skins do not split. A hard boil can break the beans apart and leave others firm inside.
“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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