Boston Baked Beans

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart bean pot or Dutch oven with tight-fitting lid
• •Large pot for soaking and parboiling beans
• •Baking sheet for sorting beans

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Spread the beans on a baking sheet and pick through them, discarding any shriveled specimens or small stones. Rinse under cold water. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with cold water by three inches, and let soak at room temperature for eight hours or overnight. The beans will swell to nearly double their size. Drain and rinse before proceeding.

   No time to soak? Cover beans with water in a pot, bring to a boil for two minutes, then remove from heat and let stand covered for one hour. Drain and proceed. The texture won't be quite as creamy, but the dish will still satisfy.
2. 2

   Parboil until tender

   Place the drained beans in a large pot and cover with fresh cold water by two inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes to one hour, until a bean pressed between your fingers yields easily but doesn't turn to mush. The skins may split slightly. This is fine. Drain the beans, reserving two cups of the cooking liquid. These beans are now ready to absorb hours of flavor.

3. 3

   Prepare the salt pork

   While the beans simmer, prepare your salt pork. Cut it into two pieces: one chunk of about two ounces and the remainder sliced into half-inch cubes. The chunk will nestle into the beans and flavor the pot from within. The cubes will dot the surface and crisp during the long bake, becoming small treasures of rendered fat and caramelized pork.

4. 4

   Assemble the bean pot

   Heat your oven to 275°F. In a Dutch oven or traditional bean pot, place the whole peeled onion at the bottom. Nestle the larger chunk of salt pork beside it. Add half the parboiled beans. Scatter the remaining salt pork cubes over this layer, then add the rest of the beans. The pot should be about three-quarters full.

5. 5

   Mix the cooking liquid

   In a bowl, combine the molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, salt, pepper, and ginger. Whisk in six cups of boiling water until the sugar dissolves and the molasses loosens into a dark, fragrant liquid. The smell alone tells you something good is coming: sweet, sharp, earthy. Pour this mixture over the beans. The liquid should cover them by about half an inch. If it doesn't, add more hot water.

   Use boiling water here. Cold liquid added to warm beans can toughen their skins and extend cooking time significantly.
6. 6

   Begin the long bake

   Cover the pot tightly with its lid or aluminum foil. Transfer to the center rack of your oven. Bake for six hours, checking every two hours. The beans should always be covered with liquid. Add boiling water as needed to keep them submerged. Resist the urge to stir. Let the beans develop their structure undisturbed.

7. 7

   Finish uncovered

   After six hours, remove the lid. The beans should be tender and the liquid reduced but still soupy. Increase the oven temperature to 325°F. Continue baking uncovered for one and a half to two hours more, until the top develops a dark, glossy crust and the sauce thickens to coat the beans. The surface will caramelize, developing deep brown spots. This is exactly what you want.

   If the top browns too quickly before the sauce thickens, tent loosely with foil and continue baking. Every oven runs differently.
8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Remove from the oven and let rest for fifteen minutes. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Find the whole onion and discard it, or leave it for the person who likes such things. Serve the beans directly from the pot, spooning from beneath the crust to capture both the sticky top and the saucier depths below. These beans improve overnight. Make them Saturday, eat them Sunday, and thank the Puritans.

Chef Tips

• •Seek out salt pork from a proper butcher. The supermarket version, often pre-sliced and swimming in brine, lacks the firm texture and clean pork flavor you want. Good salt pork should be mostly fat with thin streaks of meat, cured but not overly salty.
• •Traditional New England bean pots have a narrow mouth that limits evaporation and thick walls that retain heat evenly. A Dutch oven works nearly as well. Avoid thin metal pans that create hot spots and scorch the bottom.
• •Dark molasses (not blackstrap) provides the authentic Boston flavor. Blackstrap is too bitter for this dish. If you can find it, look for molasses labeled 'robust' or 'full flavor' rather than 'mild.'
• •Leftover beans freeze beautifully for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently in a low oven, adding a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much.
• •For a Saturday night supper in the old style, serve alongside brown bread (steamed, not baked), coleslaw, and frankfurters. Cold lager or hard cider makes the proper accompaniment.

Advance Preparation

• •Beans must be soaked 8 hours or overnight before cooking. Plan accordingly.
• •The complete dish improves dramatically after refrigerating overnight. The flavors meld and the sauce sets up to perfect consistency. Reheat covered at 300°F for 45 minutes.
• •Parboiled beans can be refrigerated up to 24 hours before assembling and baking if you need to split the process across two days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)