Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Pork and 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
Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
In the morning, change the water to warm, then to hot an hour later.
Put the beans in boiling salted water and cook until tender but not broken, about 30 minutes.
Drain the beans and place them in a deep dish or bean pot.
Bake
Bury the parboiled pork in the center.
In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup of boiling water with dry mustard, celery salt, and molasses.
Pour this mixture over the pork and beans.
Cover the dish tightly and bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 4 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the pot.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,159 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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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 + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,445 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, becoming tender and absorbing the sauce during slow baking.
- Pork
- Adds savory flavor and richness that seasons the beans as they bake.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color to the sauce and helps it caramelize slightly.
- Dry mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent aroma that balances the sweetness of the molasses.
The step that matters
Cook the beans until tender but not broken. Beans that are undercooked stay firm through the long bake, while overcooked beans split and turn mushy. Gentle boiling and a firm-but-tender test keep their shape during slow baking.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, mustard, molasses):
- Capersfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cuminfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, mustard, molasses. 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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