Boston Baked Beans

A recipe put together for the 2012 Super Bowl, when the New England Patriots battled the New York Giants once again. Along with lobstah and clam chowdah, Boston baked beans are as traditional a New England dish as you can get. The Boston tradition stems from the Puritans, who would prepare these beans a day in advance, bury the beanpot in the ground with hot coals, and let the beans cook overnight so that they would be ready when the long Sunday hours of church were finished.

• 1 pound Great Northern beans, dried (or navy beans if Great Northern isn't available)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda (only needed if the beans can't be soaked overnight)
• 2 cups broth (vegetable broth, or chicken broth if vegetable isn't available)
• 1 pound salt pork, uncooked (uncooked bacon can be used if you prefer)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

The traditional method for preparing Boston baked beans requires a lot of time: the beans need to be soaked overnight, and when they've been prepared they will need to be baked in a 250 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for six to eight hours.

Soak the beans overnight in water: in a plastic or glass bowl, pour in the beans and add enough water to cover the beans, plus at least an inch of extra water. The beans will expand as they soak, which is why the additional water is needed. After soaking the beans, drain the bowl with a colander and reserve the soaking liquid, so that it can be re-used with the beans as vegetable (bean) broth.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Slice the pork into small pieces or cubes. Peel and chop the onion.

Arrange the beans in a cast iron dutch oven of 4 to 5 quart size. Spread a layer of beans across the bottom of the pot, then lay the pork and onions on top. Cover the pork entirely with the remaining beans.

In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, molasses, salt, pepper, dry mustard, tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring the mixture to a light boil so that it is just beginning to bubble, and pour it over the beans. Now pour in enough of the reserved bean water to cover the beans, with about an inch of extra liquid over the beans. If there isn't enough bean water, make up the difference with vegetable broth or chicken broth. You will probably end up with a fair amount of leftover broth; this can be put aside for storage or use in another dish.

Cover your dutch oven with a heavy iron lid. Bake for 6 to 8 hours in the preheated oven, until the beans are tender. Cooking longer than 8 hours is fine; I've often prepared these beans at 5:00 or 6:00 PM in the evening, and cooked them in the oven until 5:00 AM the next morning in order to take them in to work.

I grew up eating B&M baked beans, and it was always a pleasure to discover the hunk of greasy pork fat they put in each can of their beans. This is why I prefer to use salt pork: while it has the same taste as bacon when baked in this recipe, the consistency is different. You get the same big hunks of soft pork that you would find in canned beans.

Quicker Cool Beans

You may find yourself in a situation where you need to make Boston baked beans with somewhat less preparation time. A couple of steps can be taken to reduce the entire preparation time to between three and five hours from dried beans to fully ready baked beans.

Instead of soaking the beans overnight, place the beans in your dutch oven and add enough water to cover the beans, plus at least an inch of extra water. Add one tablespoon of baking soda. Heat the pot and bring the beans and water to a boil, then reduce your heat to about medium and vigorously simmer the beans for 20 to 30 minutes. This will produce a lot of foam, and your pot might boil over if you don't have enough extra space! You may have to watch the beans and repeatedly lower the heat, then raise it again as the level of foam decreases.

Prepare your ingredients in the dutch oven as listed above. The baking soda boil greatly reduces the amount of bean water produced when the colander is drained, and you will need to have additional vegetable broth available to add to the dutch oven. This is why the ingredient list calls for 2 cups of broth.

To reduce the baking time, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F instead of 250. This will let you cook the beans for three to four hours instead of six to eight hours.