Skip to main content
Main

Baked Pork and Beans

A baked dish of parboiled beans with pickled pork, seasoned with pepper, salt, and molasses or sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Baked Pork and Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beans

  1. Pick over, wash, and soak the beans overnight.

  2. Boil the beans in 2 quarts of cold water for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain the beans.

  4. Add hot water to cover the beans.

  5. Boil for another 30 minutes.

  6. Drain again.

  7. Add enough hot water to cover the beans well.

Cook the pork and beans

  1. Add the parboiled pickled pork.

  2. Boil until the beans are thoroughly cooked.

  3. Add water as needed.

Bake

  1. Transfer the beans and pork to a baking pan.

  2. Add pepper, salt, and molasses or sugar.

  3. Place the pork in the center of the dish, skin side up.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

  5. Ensure there is plenty of moisture in the pan while baking.

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

Dry beans
Provide the main body and starchy texture of the finished dish.
Pickled pork
Adds savory, salty flavor and fat that seasons the beans as they cook.
Molasses or sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.

The step that matters

Keep plenty of moisture in the pan while baking. Beans that dry out during baking become tough and pasty at the surface. Adequate liquid lets the starches soften fully and keeps the sugars from scorching before the top browns.

“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.

More baked pork and beans recipes

Boston 3 See all 27 →

You might also like

Pork CakePork Cake107 recipesRoast PorkRoast Pork82 recipesMolasses SauceMolasses Sauce32 recipesGerman Style String BeansGerman Style String Beans7 recipes