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 Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak the navy beans in cold water overnight.
Drain the beans.
Cover them with boiling water.
Season and boil
Add the salt pork, molasses, salt, pepper, mustard, and baking soda.
Boil until the beans peel slightly when blown upon.
Bake
Place the beans in a crock with the pork on top.
Brown well in the oven for 8 to 10 hours.
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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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 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).
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Pork + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,445 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
- Navy beans
- Provide the starchy body and bulk of the dish, softening during soaking and long cooking.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that melts into the beans and browns on top.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color, and helps the beans brown during baking.
- Baking soda
- Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the beans soften more quickly.
The step that matters
Boil until the beans peel slightly when blown upon. Undercooked beans stay firm through the long bake, while overcooking leaves them mushy. The skins should just begin to split, showing the starch has softened enough to finish cooking in the oven without falling apart.
“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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