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 Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the beans until the skins crack when blown.
In a deep pan, layer the beans.
Sprinkle sugar, coarse sea salt, and black pepper over the beans.
Add pieces of fresh pork or dollops of butter.
Repeat layers until the pan is full.
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.
-
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,587 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, pork):
- Beansthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Sesamefits about as well
- Black-eyed peafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More baked beans recipes
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
German Style String Beans7 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.