Why it works: Pork and beans 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 ↓
Pork and Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Parboil the salt pork and score the skin.
Soak the beans overnight in lukewarm water, changing the water twice.
Cook the beans
In the morning, boil the soaked beans in cold water until soft.
Drain the beans and place them in a deep dish.
Bake
Half-bury the pork in the middle of the beans and add a little warm water.
Bake until the dish is a nice brown.
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.
-
Pork + beanstop 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
- Dried beans
- Form the starchy body and soft, tender texture of the dish.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat that flavors and moistens the beans as it bakes.
The step that matters
Boil the beans until soft before baking. Dried beans need to be fully tender before they go into the dish, because the oven mainly browns the surface and does little to soften firm beans.
“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 pork and beans recipes
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
German Style String Beans7 recipes
Tomato Soup526 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.