Boston Baked Beans

We shall continue our trip now with a journey to Boston, Massachusetts to sample a century’s old staple and the source of the nick name “Beantown”.

Just a little history here: During the 1700’s and later, a staple of Boston was beans baked in molasses for several hours. At the time, Boston received molasses as part of the Rum making process used in the Triangle Trade. The Caribbean Islands grew sugar cane which processed into sugar resulting in molasses as byproduct. The molasses was shipped to Boston. There it was made into rum which was sent to West Africa as payment for slaves who were shipped to the West Indies.

This recipe is an adaptation of the beans served at the Durgin-Park Restaurant which dates back to the American Revolution and is famous for its Boston baked beans, prime rib, indian pudding and apple pan dowdy.

INGREDIENTS:

1-½ pounds navy beans

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pound salt pork
1 medium onion
4 Tbsp turbinado sugar *
1 cup Grandma’s molasses **
2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp pepper

* Natural sugar made by partially refining sugar cane extract
** Do not use Peter Rabbit brand

PREPARATION:

Soak beans overnight. In the morning, rinse the beans in a colander. Add the beans to a Dutch oven and fresh water just to cover and the baking soda. Loosely cover the pot, bring to a boil and gently boil for 10 minutes. Watch them as they have a tendency to froth over (It’s a real mess to clean up). Drain beans in a colander and run cold water through them. Set aside. Peel the onion and leave uncut.

Preheat oven to 300° F

Dice the salt pork into 1-inch squares. Put half of the salt pork on the bottom of the 4 qt. bean pot (ours is a McCoy #343), along with the onion. Put beans in the pot. Put the remaining salt pork on top of the beans. Don’t fill the pot past the bottom of the shoulder as they will boil over.

Mix the sugar, molasses, mustard and pepper with 3 cups of hot water and pour over the beans.

BAKING:

Cover the pot with the lid and place the pot into the preheated oven. Bake for 6 hours. Check pot periodically to check the amount of liquid. Add water to the beans slowly as needed to keep them moist; do not flood them. Remove the pot from the oven and serve.

Reheating the beans at 325 deg for 30-45 min. the following days only enhances the flavor, but do add more water. If it seems too much, just freeze the extra, they store well

--- Yields ten full servings.

Recipe is adapted from the original Durgin-Park Restaurant, Boston, MA