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Boston Baked Beans
31/2 cups of beans soaked over night. Parboil about 10 minutes. Take from pot and add three-fourths pounds of salt pork, 2 tablespoons of black molasses, and 1 teaspoon salt. Put in bean pot, cover with water in which beans have been cooked. Bake in slow oven for several hours, adding water when necessary. When done, remove cover and brown.
A spare version of the Saturday-night bean pot, written for a cook who already knew what a bean pot looked like. The essentials are a low oven, a long time, and never letting the pot run dry.
- The hinge: never let them go dryThe beans should stay just covered with liquid for the whole bake, or the exposed ones toughen and stay chalky no matter how long they cook. Check every hour and top up with boiling water, not cold, so the pot temperature does not drop.
- "Slow oven"300F, or 275F if you have five or six hours. "Several hours" means four to six with dried navy or pea beans; test by crushing one against the side of the pot rather than by the clock.
- QuantityThe opening figure is 3 1/2 cups of dried beans, roughly 1 1/2 lb. That yields a full bean pot, eight to ten servings, and it reheats better than it bakes.
- ParboilingTen minutes after an overnight soak is brief by modern practice; modern recipes often simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until the skins split when you blow across a spoonful. Undercooked beans going into the pot will simply need more oven time.
- The salt porkUse a piece of fatty streaky salt pork or unsmoked side pork, about 12 oz. Score the rind in a diamond pattern, bury most of it in the beans and leave the scored top proud of the surface so it crisps during the final uncovered stretch.
- Molasses"Black molasses" here most likely means dark or full-flavored molasses rather than blackstrap, which would be bitter in this quantity. Two tablespoons gives a restrained, savory pot; other baked bean recipes of the era call for considerably more, sometimes with added sugar.
- SaltOne teaspoon assumes the pork does most of the seasoning. Salt pork varies enormously; taste the liquid at the halfway mark before adding more.
- VesselA glazed earthenware bean pot with a narrow mouth loses the least moisture. A heavy Dutch oven with the lid slightly ajar works, but expect to add water more often.
- Browning at the endUncover for the last 30 to 45 minutes so the top dries and darkens. If it browns too fast, drop the oven and move the pot lower rather than adding liquid to the surface.