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 ↓
Baked Beans
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the beans
Soak the white beans overnight in water.
Drain and place the beans in a pot with fresh water. Boil until tender.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a baking dish, combine the cooked beans, sugar, pickled pork, salt, and butter.
Cover and bake for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Beans + buttertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,799 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,587 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White beans
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender through soaking and boiling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the beans take on a caramelised flavour during baking.
- Pickled pork
- Adds salty, savoury flavour that seasons the beans as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the beans a smoother, silkier texture.
The step that matters
Boil until tender. Dried beans must be fully softened before baking, because the sugar and salt added later can toughen the skins and slow softening in the oven.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pork, butter):
- Almondfits better
- Peanutfits about as well
- Sesamefits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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