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High-Pressure Dinners: Bostonians

Did you ever stop to think that even Boston baked beans are really boiled, not High-Pressure Dinners baked? For even in the Boston way the beans are first parboiled, put into the bean pot with hot water added, and so boiled instead of baked in the oven.

Here is where my pet, the pressure cooker, best shows off his time-cutting qualities. For the parboiling process two cups of beans are washed and soaked in lukewarm water for an hour or two, then put into the cooker with a teaspoonful of soda and two cupfuls of boiling water to parboil. The cover is clamped on, and the pressure run up to twenty pounds, where it is held for five minutes by turning the gas lower. After this cooking, drain off the water, add more hot water to rinse, and again drain the beans. Now pour the beans into a bean pot and add a quarter of a pound of salt pork scalded and cut into small pieces. To half a cup of hot water add three tablespoonfuls of molasses, one eighth teaspoonful of ginger, one eighth teaspoonful of mustard, and one teaspoonful of salt. Pour this over the beans, and if necessary add more water until you can see it.

Place the bean pot inside of the cooker, on the wire rack, and add two cupfuls of hot water. Let the pressure run up to fifteen pounds. Turn down the flame so that the pressure remains steady at fifteen pounds for an hour and a half.

When the beans are taken out of the pot, they have the rich, brown color and the identical flavor of real Boston baked beans - such at least was the verdict of two Bostonians who happened to be the victims of this experiment.

To have baked beans for dinner and only start them soaking at three o'clock in the afternoon and use but one gas flame for less than two hours instead of eight hours of oven heat is certainly worth while. Is it any wonder that I am fond of my pet?