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Baked Beans

A baked bean dish with salt pork and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Baked Beans

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water.

  2. Parboil the beans in water until the skins begin to break.

  3. Run cold water over the beans until clear.

Prepare the pork

  1. Scrape the rind of the salt pork.

  2. Score the rind of the salt pork.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer 2-3 of the beans in a 5 lb lard pail.

  2. Add the salt pork.

  3. Cover with the remaining beans.

  4. Add molasses, salt, and pepper to taste.

  5. Add enough water to cover.

  6. Bake all day at 300°F (150°C).

  7. Add more water as it boils away.

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 + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together491 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. 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

Small white beans
Form the bulk of the dish, becoming tender and absorbing the sauce as they bake.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that melts into the beans during the long bake.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deep, dark color to the baked sauce.

The step that matters

Add more water as it boils away. Beans baked for a long time can dry out and scorch if the liquid evaporates. Topping up water keeps the beans moist so they cook evenly and become creamy rather than tough or burnt on top.

“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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