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Pork and Beans

A baked pork and beans dish cooked with salt pork, molasses, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pork and Beans

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

  1. Pick over the beans and soak them overnight.

  2. In the morning, wash and drain the beans, then boil them in cold water with baking soda for about 30 minutes.

  3. Drain the beans.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place a slice of pork in an earthen pot.

  2. Add the beans and molasses.

  3. Add the salt pork on top, scored in slices or squares.

  4. Season with pepper and salt if needed.

  5. Cover the pot with hot water.

  6. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for six hours or longer, adding hot water as needed.

  7. Keep the pot covered to prevent burning.

  8. Remove the cover an hour or two before serving to brown the top and crisp the pork.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together491 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beans
Form the bulk of the dish and, as they cook slowly, soften to a creamy texture.
Baking soda
Raises the pot's alkalinity, helping the beans soften during the initial boil.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that renders into the beans and crisps on top.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color, and helps thicken the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Keeping the pot covered and topping up with hot water. Long slow baking can dry out or scorch the beans. Keeping the lid on traps moisture, and adding hot water as needed keeps the beans submerged and cooking gently.

“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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