Every Saturday for many years we would set out on Adventures.   While some folks would have simply labeled these outings as running errands….they were much more than that to us.  “It’s all in the attitude,” she would tell us.  Mom was an avid reader with an active imagination.  She had a pen in her hand most always, planning her next move.  Even when her body was too tired to participate fully, she was the greatest cheerleader to her kids and grandkids as they set out on trips and adventures of their own.

On the particular Saturday that inspired this post….our mission was to find a good old fashioned baked bean pot.  Growing up in New England every pot luck dinner or back yard cookout had a big pot of homemade Boston Baked Beans.  And that was my mom’s signature recipe.  Over the years in an effort to simplify her life she passed down or let go of many things, her bean pot being one of them.  So when I was ready for her to teach me this family recipe…..well, let’s just say an adventure ensued.  “Today we shall find a bean pot and it will be a good day.”  Ha! Thrift stores, antique markets, yard sales, and at least a hundred miles later….success.  There she sat on a cluttered flea market table (the bean pot, not mom), nestled up to a wooden tobacco pipe rack, and nearly hidden by a rusted handsaw; striped with the unmistakable shades of brown and ivory reserved for bean pots and french onion soup crocks. We passed her back and forth, inspecting for cracks, scraping away molasses stains, all the while grinning from ear to ear.  She was perfect and it WAS a good day.

Now on to this fantastic family recipe… Boston Baked Beans.

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When you grow up in New England there are a few recipes that it’s good to have up your sleeve. In the case of Boston Baked Beans my mom not only had it up her sleeve but it was engrained in her memory. I’m eternally thankful that she took the time to write it down for me to share with generations to come.

Below is the tale of my first solo attempt at making Boston Baked Beans. Watching over me, I’m certain mom had a good laugh as I worked my way through.

~ Boston Baked Beans ~

Ingredients…

4 cups dried navy beans *(found out the hard way that these are not the same as great northern beans)

1 lb. salt pork

2 small onions thick sliced

1 1/2 cups molasses

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. pepper

1 Tbl. salt

**1 tsp. baking soda (for pre-boil – not sure why?)

Soak beans overnight in 8 cups cold water.  Drain.  Cover with 8 cups water and boil 1 hour with 1 tsp. baking soda.  Drain and reserve cooking liquid.  Brown salt pork in a hot skillet until very brown on all sides, then cut into small cubes.  Combine molasses, brown sugar, mustard, paprika, salt & pepper.  Put a layer of salt pork in bottom of bean pot.  Add half the beans, another layer of salt port, and top with onions.  Add remaining beans and onions.  Pour in molasses mixture, then top with cooking liquid until beans are completely covered with liquid.  Bake covered at 300 degrees for ***6 hours.  Add liquid periodically if necessary just to cover.  See special notes below:

* It took me two batches of soaking beans overnight and doing the one hour pre-cook (which each time yielded completely cooked beans – not good), before it occurred to me that mom’s recipe that called for “dried beans” should have been NAVY beans NOT great northern beans.  Not that there’s anything wrong with northern beans but they cook more quickly.  Thank heaven I wasn’t alone in this endeavor and my partner recognized a melt down in the making and ran to the grocery store for replacement beans. 

** Mom’s recipe also calls for adding 1 tsp. of baking soda to the pre-cook 1 hour boil.  I have no idea why.  Which reminds me of the story of the daughter learning to make the family recipe for pot roast.  Her mom coached her through seasoning the roast then instructed her to cut the end off before putting it in the pot.  The daughter questioned that step and her mother replied “that’s the way my mom taught me to make it.”  And so she called her grandmother and asked “why do you cut the end of your pot roast.”  Her response, “because the pot was too short for the roast.”

*** Because I ended up using great northern beans – I had to adjust the cooking time accordingly.  I only boiled for 30 minutes, then cooked for 5 hours at 300 degrees instead of 6 hours.

Pre-oven

1 hour mark

2 hour mark

This is the point when your house begins to fill with that sweet smell of sugars and molasses dancing with the smokey salt pork.

5 hour mark

At this point “when aroma becomes flavor you know something amazing is happening.”  Shared these at work today as we celebrated National Hot Dog Month.  They were definitely worth the time and effort!!

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Boston Baked Beans ~ a family recipe

These slow baked beans will transform your house. At the three hour mark your house begins to fill with that sweet smell of sugars and molasses dancing with the smokey salt pork. At the 5 hour mark you reach the point “when aroma becomes flavor and you know something amazing is happening.”

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 cups dried navy beans
• 1 lb. salt pork
• 2 small onions thick sliced
• 1 1/2 cups molasses
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tbl. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda for pre-boil

Instructions

• Soak beans overnight in 8 cups cold water with 1 tsp. baking soda.
• Drain.
• Cover with 8 cups water and boil 1 hour with 1 tsp. baking soda.
• Drain and reserve cooking liquid.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Brown salt pork in a hot skillet until very brown on all sides, then cut into small cubes.
• Combine molasses, brown sugar, mustard, paprika, salt & pepper.
• Put a layer of salt pork in bottom of bean pot.
• Add half the beans, another layer of salt port, and top with onions.
• Add remaining beans and onions.
• Pour in molasses mixture, then top with cooking liquid until beans are completely covered with liquid.
• Bake covered up to 6 hours.
• Add liquid periodically if necessary just to cover.

Notes

It took me two batches of soaking beans overnight and doing the one hour pre-cook (which each time yielded completely cooked beans – not good), before it occurred to me that mom’s recipe that called for “dried beans” should have been NAVY beans NOT great northern beans. Not that there’s anything wrong with northern beans but they cook more quickly.

The post Boston Baked Beans {A Family Recipe} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.