Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Bean Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beans and meats
Boil the corned beef and white pea beans in 4 quarts of water for 2 hours, skimming thoroughly.
Add the fat pork and boil for 2 more hours, adding water as needed to maintain 4 quarts.
Remove the meat and pork from the pot.
Thicken and finish
Mix the sifted Indian meal with cold water and pour it into the broth.
Stir well and let it boil for 5 minutes.
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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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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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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Beef + beanstop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 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
- White pea beans
- Their starch breaks down during long boiling, thickening the broth and giving the porridge body.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal starch thickens the broth as it boils, giving the porridge its final texture.
- Corned beef
- Slow simmering renders its salted, savory flavor into the broth.
- Fat pork
- Melting fat adds richness and flavor to the broth as it simmers.
The step that matters
Stirring in the Indian meal. Cornmeal added to hot liquid can clump into lumps if not dispersed first. Mixing it with cold water before pouring, then stirring well, lets the starch hydrate evenly and thicken the broth smoothly.
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork):
- Peanutfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Soybeanfits about as well
- Beansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork. 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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