The Pot Makes the Beans!

I grew up in New England, so I have very strong opinions about how baked beans should taste! I’ve been making beans in a crockpot forever, but have always struggled with getting the texture of them just right without them drying out.

So, apparently my hubby has been looking to get me an official bean pot for a couple of years now, and he finally found me one! He ordered it last Christmas time but it took a few weeks to get here. Any old who, now it’s barbeque season, I’ve made beans a couple of time in this pot, and they are the BOMB! They are the perfect texture, color and taste! Although I am in NO way a food blogger, I wanted to post this so I could share this with you!

New England Baked Beans

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry navy beans or dry great Northern beans
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ pound bacon or salt pork, cut up into small cubes
• 2 large onions, sliced into thick rings
• 1½ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

Baking the Beans

1. Rinse beans the beans, place them in a pot, cover and let soak in a cool place overnight.
2. The next morning, add the baking soda and simmer the the beans for 10 min. You’ll need to skim off a bunch of foam during this time.
3. Drain the beans, but save the liquid.
4. Place a layer of sliced onions in the bottom of the pot, top with some of the salt port and half of the beans.
5. Add another layer of sliced onions, salt pork and the other half of the beans.
6. Add the sugar, mustard, salt and pepper to the top of the beans. Pour the soaking liquid over the top, this dissolves the sugar etc., until the liquid just covers the beans.
7. Add a final layer of onions, cover the pot and place in a 300 F oven.
8. Check on the beans every hour or so, at some point you may need to add a bit more of the soaking liquid (or water).
9. After 5 hours 15 minutes, the beans had a perfect texture, I pulled the pot out of the oven and let it sit wrapped in towels until it was time to eat – they were perfect!

I took these to a 4th of July party, and my friend Caryl, who also grew up in Massachusetts (Dorchester!), says these are the most authentic New England Baked Beans she’s tasted!