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 ↓
String Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Remove the strings from the beans and break them into 1‑inch pieces.
Place the beans in a pot with cold water and add the salt pork.
Boil for 1.5 hours, using as little water as possible.
If the beans are young and fresh, they do not need baking soda; otherwise, add a pinch to the water to speed up cooking.
Finish and serve
Drain the beans, then add plenty of butter and coarse sea salt.
Serve the pork with the beans if desired.
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).
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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- String beans
- Provide the main body and texture of the dish once cooked until tender.
- Salt pork
- Adds savory fat and flavor to the cooking water as the beans simmer.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the drained beans.
- Baking soda
- Speeds softening of older beans by raising the cooking water's alkalinity.
The step that matters
Boiling with little water. Using as little water as possible keeps the cooking liquid concentrated with pork flavor. Boiling for a long time softens the beans fully, so they should be checked for tenderness near the end.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter):
- Peanutfits better
- Soybeanfits better
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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