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 ↓
Winter Dish of 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
Pick and wash the beans, then soak them overnight in plenty of water.
Drain the beans and place them in a kettle with cold water.
Simmer until tender.
Drain the beans in a colander.
Bake
Place them in a deep baking pan with a large piece of scored salt pork.
Pour boiling water over the beans and bake at 300°F (150°C) for five to six hours, or overnight in a brick oven.
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
- Dried beans
- Form the bulk of the dish and soften into a tender, creamy texture during long cooking.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory, salty flavor that slowly seasons the beans during baking.
The step that matters
Simmer until tender. Beans must be fully softened before the long bake. Starches in the beans absorb water and swell as they cook, and cooking them through first helps them become creamy rather than staying firm.
“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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