Boston Baked Beans

The Boston Baked Bean is a traditional sweet bean dish that is a common side dish at BBQs and picnics. I do love the fatty, sweet rich flavor and have often made a meal of just the Boston Baked Beans at a gathering. I am offering you this traditional recipe to add to your growing cookbook and give you a powerful side dish weapon in your list of great kitchen menu items. Let’s make a Boston Baked Bean dish.

2 pounds of Navy beans

1 cup dark molasses

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tbsp dry ground mustard

1 tsp ground black pepper

3 tsp salt

5 cloves garlic

2 med sized onions, peeled

1/2 cup catsup

1 pound cooked bacon slices, cut into 2 inch long segments

Rinse and clean the 2 pounds of Navy Beans. Place beans in a a deep pot or dutch oven. Place enough water in the pot to cover the beans by 3-5 inches. Let the beans sit over night and soften as they soak. Test the beans in the morning and if they are not yet fully soft you can place the pot on the stove and bring the beans to a boil for a couple minutes and remove from the burner for an hour. This should motivate some deep bean soaking.

Make sure there is enough water to cover the beans in the pot. Add salt to beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow beans to simmer on LOW for about an hour.

If you have ever heard the term “Studding”…you will learn that term at this time. Take the peeled onions and press the garlic cloves into the ends of the  onions. The onion will hold the garlic cloves inside itself as the beans cook and the flavor of the garlic will leach into the bean sauce without having the garlic incorporate into the sauce.

Place the rest of the ingredients into the beans and stir, pushing the two garlic studded onions into the beans last. Place the pot or dutch oven into the oven at 275F and bake for 3.5 hours. At this time check the amount of liquid and if necessary add more water. Remove onion and discard the garlic. Chop onion and place back into the beans and continue baking for an additional 3 hours. ENJOY!