I grew up in rural New England: everyone had scrap piled up on their lawn where I was from, the churches all smelled like a cabinet from 1968 that hadn't been touched since then, everyone was obsessed with Loony Tunes...for some reason...and we had something called Bean Suppers. Every church during a specific time in Autumn would hoist out their letter boards advertising that the little, blue haired ladies of the church's Ladies Parlour were going to dig out their earthen ware bean pots and argue amongst each other as to how much brown sugar needed to be added for the best beans, or what types of beans cooked the best. The memory of going into a church's basement, smelling the earthy, smoky smell of baked beans wafting through the room, and being served a heaping pile of beans, cooked veggies, and a slice of buttered Canadian White bread on fine china still lingers in my mind.
However, these dinners are going extinct, especially thanks to COVID. I'm half-devastated that I will never take my children to a baked bean supper, at least until further notice (also because I don't have kids). Baked Beans are a staple of New England and Appalachian cooking: it's hearty, it has a lot of protein, and they taste damn good. More people should eat beans, and I'm not saying that because I've been pining for baked beans for the last 10 months: they're really tasty, trust me.
So, here's a simple baked beans recipe.
Baked Beans (at 325 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 Cups Navy or Yellow eye beans. This depends on who you ask.
1/2 lb salt pork/leaf lard/bacon
1 onion, diced. Or, if you want to do it like my family does, just slice it and separate the strips.
1/4 TSP Dried Mustard, powdered
1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Cup (dark) Brown Sugar.
Soak the beans overnight in water, preferably cold water, but room temp is also appropriate. Drain and reserve leftover liquid. Arrange your beans in layers, with salt pork and onion in between the layers of beans. Combine molasses, ketchup, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire, and brown sugar in a saucepan and heat, stirring out any lumps. Cover beans in sauce, and then cover the sauced beans with reserved water. Cook in an oven preheated to 325 for 3-4 hours, or until beans are tender. Serve with a piece of buttered bread and green beans as soon as they come out of the oven.
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