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Boston Baked Beans

A hearty dish of beans, salt pork, molasses, and seasonings baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Boston Baked Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cook the beans with a pinch of baking soda until tender, adding cold water if they boil dry.

  2. Boil the salt pork until tender.

Assemble and bake

  1. Drain the beans and layer them in a 1‑gallon crock, seasoning with salt and pepper between layers.

  2. Place the pork in the center and add the remaining beans around it.

  3. Season again with salt and pepper, then pour in the molasses.

  4. Cover with water, then cover the crock and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 2 to 3 hours.

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. Pepper + molassestop 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
Provide the bulk of the dish and, once slow-baked, a creamy, tender texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the beans as they bake.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color, and contributes to browning during the long bake.
Baking soda (in the method)
Raises the pot's alkalinity, helping the beans soften more quickly during cooking.

The step that matters

Keep the beans covered with water while baking. Beans that dry out at the surface toughen and scorch, so the crock must stay submerged. Adding cold water if they boil dry during cooking keeps them tender.

“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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