Name: State of Maine Baked Beans
Ingredients: 1 pint dried beans; 1 teaspoon molasses; 1 teaspoon sugar; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (if no lean pork is used); ½ pound salt pork (in one piece); Water

Why it works: Beans and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

State of Maine 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

Soak the beans overnight.
In the morning, drain the beans and add molasses, sugar, and salt.

Bake

Add the salt pork and cover with water.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven all day, adding water as needed.
If cooked properly, no water should be needed at least two hours before serving.

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.

Beans + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beans + molassestop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together491 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beans + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,587 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Molasses + porktop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together825 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried beans: Provide the main body and starchy texture that becomes creamy during the long soak and bake.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, depth, and a darker color as it caramelizes slowly in the oven.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the sauce brown and thicken during the long bake.
Salt pork: Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the beans and enriches the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Bake all day, adding water as needed. Beans need a long, gentle bake with enough liquid to soften fully and absorb flavor. If they dry out, they can scorch or stay firm, and the sauce will not thicken properly.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, pork):

Beansthe original
Chestnutfits about as well
Peanutfits about as well
Sesamefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against 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.

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State of Maine Baked Beans