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Boston Baked Beans

A baked bean dish from Boston, made with small pea beans, salt pork, molasses, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Boston Baked 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. Soak the beans in water overnight.

  2. Drain and sort the beans.

  3. Place the beans in a large bean pot.

  4. Add the pork on top of the beans.

Season and cover

  1. Dissolve the salt and molasses in a small amount of water.

  2. Add mustard if desired.

  3. Pour the mixture over the beans.

  4. Add enough water to cover the beans.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) all day if serving in the evening.

  2. Cover and leave in the oven overnight for breakfast.

  3. Add water as needed throughout the day.

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 + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 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 + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,445 recipes

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

  4. Molasses + mustardtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together468 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Small pea beans
Provide the main body and starchy texture that becomes tender during long slow baking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color to the sauce as it bakes.
Pork
Contributes savory fat and flavor that seasons the beans as they cook.
Salt
Seasons the beans and sauce throughout the long bake.

The step that matters

Keep the beans covered with water during the long bake. Dried beans need prolonged moist heat to soften fully. If they are exposed and dry out, they can toughen and scorch, so water must be added as the liquid cooks down.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, pork, molasses):

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Sweet potatofits about as well
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pork, 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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