Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked 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
Wash the beans and place them in a pot with 2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Bring the mixture to a boil.
Rinse and drain the beans.
Bake
Combine the beans with 1 tablespoon of dry mustard, 2 tablespoons of molasses, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 pound of pickled pork in a bean pot or 1-gallon crock.
Cover with water and bake at 300°F (150°C) for at least 6 hours, adding more time for better flavor.
Add salt to taste and optional tomato pulp if desired.
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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,713 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + tomatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,482 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small soup beans
- Provide the bulk of the dish and its starchy, creamy body once slowly baked.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pot's alkalinity to soften the bean skins during the initial boil.
- Molasses
- Adds dark color and a deep, rich sweetness that browns during baking.
- Pickled pork
- Contributes savory, salty fat that flavors the beans as they bake.
- Dry mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent note that balances the sweetness of the molasses.
The step that matters
Long, low baking. Beans need a slow bake at moderate heat so the starches gelatinize and the flavors meld; rushing or boiling hard can break the beans apart and leave them firm.
Swap the tomato
The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, mustard, molasses, sugar, pork):
- Lettucefits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, mustard, molasses, sugar, 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.
More baked beans recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 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.