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| Ingredients: |
1 1/3 lb / 600 g dried pea beans. Kidney red brown yellow-eyed will all do.
1 to 1 1/3 lb / 450 to 600 g fat salt pork w/rind.
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1 tbs salt.
1-2 tbs sugar.
1-2 tbs molasses / dark syrup.
1/4-1/2 tbs Colemans mustard powder or similar.
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| Cooking Instructions: |
Pick over one quart pea beans, cover with cold water, and soak over night. In morning, drain, cover with fresh water, heat slowly (keeping water below boiling-point), and cook until skins will burst,—which is best determined by taking a few beans on the tip of a spoon and blowing on them, when skins will burst if sufficiently cooked. Beans thus tested must, of course, be thrown away. Drain beans, throwing bean-water out of doors, not in sink. Scald rind of three-fourths pound fat salt pork, scrape, remove one-fourth inch slice and put in bottom of bean-pot. Cut through rind of remaining pork every one-half inch, making cuts one inch deep. Put beans in pot and bury pork in beans, leaving rind exposed. Mix one tablespoon salt, one tablespoon molasses, and three tablespoons sugar; add one cup boiling water, and pour over beans; then add enough more boiling water to cover beans. Cover bean-pot, put in oven, and bake slowly six or eight hours, uncovering the last hour of cooking, that rind may become brown and crisp. Add water as needed. Many feel sure that by adding with seasonings one-half tablespoon mustard, the beans are more easily digested. If pork mixed with lean is preferred, use less salt.
The fine reputation which Boston Baked Beans have gained has been attributed to the earthen bean-pot with small top and bulging sides in which they are supposed to be cooked. Equally good beans have often been eaten where a five-pound lard pail was substituted for the broken bean pot.
Yellow-eyed beans are very good when baked.
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| Serving Suggestions: |
Serve with well cooked or steamed potatoes, a dark, medium bitter beer and a schnaps - preferably aquavit.
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| Additional Comments: |
This recipe is from "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" - 1st edition 1896(!), by Fannie Merritt Farmer. The original name is Boston Baked Beans, and this is a really nutritious and tasty meal. It's a traditional dish from my childhood, my copy of The BCSCBook is from a 1915 edition, brought to Norway by my father in the late 30's.
Try a little less sugar than suggested in the original recipe, but be sure to add the mustard - it blends perfectly. Oh, and the old recipe says nothing about baking temperature, but it should be about 320-340 F / 160-170 C, and sometimes increased towards end of cooking (when lid is off), if needed to get a crispy rind - it depends on your oven.
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