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Bean Chowder
1/4 POUND BACON, DICED 2 ONIONS, CHOPPED I CAN TOMATOES 2 POTATOES, DICED 2 POUNDS CANNED BAKED BEANS I QUART WATER SALT Use an iron kettle preferably, brown bacon lightly in it, add onions and cook a few minutes, then tomatoes, potatoes, beans and water. Season and let simmer until potatoes are tender. Canned beans and tomatoes make this an easy potage to prepare any old where; but to be perfectly frank, if you have time, this pioneer Yankee dish, not to be found in any other country, is far better when made with fresh tomatoes and soaked dried beans. Then it comes closer to the original bean porridge: "Bean porridge hot Bean porridge cold Bean porridge in the pot Nine days old.
Some like it hot Some like it cold Some like it in the pot Nine days old."
A camp chowder built from pantry cans, with a pot of soaked beans and fresh tomatoes offered as the better version. It comes together in the time the potatoes take to soften.
- Canned quantities"2 pounds canned baked beans" is two standard 15-16 oz cans, drained or not as you prefer -- the sauce thickens the chowder. The unspecified can of tomatoes was probably a No. 2 can, roughly 20 oz, though the recipe does not say; a modern 14.5 oz can works, or use about 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes with their juice.
- The hinge is the bacon fondBrown the bacon lightly and cook the onions in its fat before any liquid goes in. That rendered base is the only savory depth in a soup otherwise made of sweetened beans and tomato.
- Iron kettleA cast-iron dutch oven over coals or a burner is what is meant. Heavy iron holds an even simmer and keeps the bean starch from scorching on the bottom; stir occasionally regardless.
- TimingDiced potatoes are tender in 15-20 minutes. Do not extend the simmer to "improve" it -- the canned beans are already fully cooked and will collapse into mush.
- Acid and potatoesTomatoes slow potato softening. If the potatoes are still firm after 20 minutes they are not undercooked so much as acid-checked; give them another 10 minutes rather than raising the heat.
- Salt lastBacon, canned beans and canned tomatoes all arrive salted. Season only after the potatoes are done and the volume has settled.
- The dried-bean versionFor the version the author prefers, soak dried navy or pea beans overnight -- about 1/2 pound, which cooks up to roughly the volume the canned beans supply -- and simmer until tender before the potatoes go in; expect 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Acid is generally held to slow beans from softening, so cook them before the tomatoes go into the pot.
- YieldRoughly 3 quarts, serving six as a main course with bread. It thickens considerably on standing and will need water when reheated.