Baked Beans

Boston is famous for this dish although I'm not sure why. (Must Google that). Canadians like baked beans too.

Pretty much all recipes for baked beans involve cleaning and pre-soaking the rock hard navy beans, which can also harbour rocks by the way. The sweetening of the beans usually involves some combination of maple syrup, brown sugar and molasses. The more molasses you use, the deeper the colour of the beans. The more tomato-based ingredients you use, the redder the final products. Many recipes call for salt pork, bacon or diced ham to be added. Obviously, the dish is no longer vegetarian with those additions. The recipe that follows here calls for baking in a 225 degree F. oven. In my experience it doesn't have to be quite that low. The baking process is a long one but the texture and taste of these homemade beans is a treat.

Aunt Dorothy's bean pot from the Medicine Hat Pottery in Alberta

The finished product. They're sweet, they're savoury, they're romantic. No wait, they aren't romantic.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dry beans (navy, A.K.A. great Northern) 2-1/3 cups
• water for soaking and precooking
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup or chili sauce
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard or yellow hotdog mustard
• 3 cups water for cooking
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste

Rinsing and soaking the beans:

Rinse and sort the beans; remove any pebbles or debris.

Place the beans in a large bowl.

Fill with water in order to submerge the beans by at least two inches of water.

Soak overnight (8-12 hours).

Precooking the beans:

The next day, transfer the drained and re-rinsed beans to a large pot.

Re-fill with water and bring to a boil.

Turn down the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat and rinse again.

The long slow bake in the oven:

Preheat your oven to 225°F.

Transfer the precooked beans to a Dutch oven or a bean pot, ensuring there is sufficient liquid to cover the beans. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook for approximately 6 hours. Add water to the pot as necessary during the long bake to avoid drying out the beans.