Why it works: Beans and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Pickled Pork and Beans
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the beans
Boil the soaked beans in a saucepan of water until tender, about 1 hour.
Drain the beans and rinse with cold water to cool.
Assemble and bake
Place the salted pork in a deep baking dish and add enough boiling water to cover the bottom.
Layer the beans over the pork.
In a bowl, mix the salt, mustard, and molasses, then add enough boiling water to make 1 pint of liquid.
Pour the mixture over the beans and pork, adding more boiling water to moisten everything.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour.
Serve
Serve the beans on a dish with the pork in the center.
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 + mustardtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,242 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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
- Haricot beans
- Provide the bulk of the dish, turning creamy and tender as they cook slowly in liquid.
- Salted pork
- Adds savory fat and salt that flavor the beans as they bake.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color, and helps give the sauce its rich, dark body.
- Mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent note that balances the sweetness of the molasses.
The step that matters
Adding the liquid over the beans. Beans need enough moisture to cook through and stay tender during the long bake. Too little liquid lets them dry out and scorch on top, while the sauce thickens as it reduces.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, mustard, molasses):
- Lettucefits better
- Welsh onionfits better
- Broccolifits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, mustard, molasses. 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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