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Pork and Beans

A baked pork and bean dish with molasses and pepper.

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 ↓

Pork and Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

  1. Pick over the beans and soak them overnight.

  2. In the morning, wash and drain the beans, then place them in a kettle with cold water and baking soda.

  3. Boil for about 20 minutes, then drain and transfer to an earthen bean dish.

Season and bake

  1. Add molasses and season with pepper.

  2. Place the salt pork in the center of the beans, rind side up, scored in slices or squares.

  3. Cover with hot water and bake for 6 hours in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C).

  4. Keep covered to prevent burning.

Brown and serve

  1. Remove the pork an hour before serving to allow it to brown, and let the beans brown on top as well.

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. Pepper + porktop 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

Beans
Form the bulk of the dish, becoming tender and creamy during the long bake.
Baking soda
Raises the pH of the cooking water, helping the bean skins soften.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep, caramel-like flavor.
Salt pork
Renders fat and seasoning into the beans while its rind and surface brown.

The step that matters

Removing the pork an hour before serving. Leaving the pork covered keeps it moist and prevents burning, but uncovering it too early can dry the beans, while uncovering it too late leaves no time for the surface to brown.

“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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