Bean Town

     Boston has the culinary nickname of "Bean Town."  Every restaurant in the city will no doubt have on it's menu a tribute to this dish.  But there are probably as many recipes for Boston Baked Beans as there are ethnic groups living there,  each one with their own version of the slow cooked beans.  The French have a cassoulet, the English pease porridge,  and the Italians pasta fagiole.

     The original recipe came from the native Americans who inhabited New England and cooked their beans in bear fat and maple syrup, placed in an earthenware pot that was set into the ground and covered with ash.  The colonial Puritans adapted this version to abide by their strict adherence to religious laws forbidding work of any kind, including cooking, on the Sabbath, from sundown Saturday to the same time on Sunday.  They would mix beans with molasses and bake them in a pot beginning early Saturday morning and leave it to cook slowly all day until being served that evening.  Leftovers would be eaten for breakfast and lunch on Sunday after being left in the still warm brick ovens overnight.

 

     It is interesting to note that Boston also has a connection to one of the main ingredients, molasses.  Cane sugar was shipped there from the West Indies to be converted into the gooey substance before being distilled into rum and sent back.  Stories are still told of the faint sweet aroma of molasses that lingers on hot summer days in the North End.  It was there that a 2.5 million gallon tank of the stuff exploded on January 15, 1919 and ran through the streets at 35 miles an hour, killing 21 people and injuring another 150.  For a photograph and more information of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 click on the highlighted title and scroll down to the story.

     Here is an authentic recipe for Boston Baked Beans as found in The Union Oyster House Cookbook:

 

Ingredients
1 pound dried whit pea or Navy beans
3 ounces diced salt pork
1 cup diced onion
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup molasses
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder

1.  Cover beans with 2 quarts cold water and soak 12 hours or overnight.  Drain.
2.  Preheat oven to 325F.  In a large stock pot, cook salt pork over medium heat until rendered.
3.  Add the onion and cook until tender.  Add tomato juice, molasses, sugar, mustard, and garlic powder.  Mix well.  Add beans and enough water so that the beans are covered by about 1 inch of liquid.
4.  Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and place in the oven, covered.  Bake for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until beans are soft and sauce has thickened.  Add more liquid if beans begin to dry out.  If you'd like a slightly crusty top, remove the cover for the last half hour.

Serves 8