Why it works: Pork and beans 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 ↓
Green String Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Break string beans into pieces and soak in cold water.
Combine pork and cold water in a pot.
Cook
Cook the mixture for 30 minutes.
Add string beans to the pot.
Cook for 1.5 hours.
If water boils out, add a little warm water.
Finish and serve
Season the dish.
Serve on a platter with sliced pork.
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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Pork + beanstop 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
- Fat pork
- Melts into the cooking liquid, adding richness and savory flavor to the beans.
- String beans
- Soften during long simmering and absorb flavor from the pork and cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Topping up with warm water. The beans cook for a long time, so water evaporates and the level drops. Adding warm rather than cold water keeps the pot simmering steadily, since cold water would cool the liquid and slow cooking.
“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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