Baked Beans

1895

Why You Can't Get the Genuine Outside of New England.

The reason why baked beans outside of New England are so unlike the genuine article is that they are not properly cooked, and more especially because they are not cooked in the old fashioned down east bean pot. There are probably no real bean pots on sale outside of New England. They are all about the same in appearance and are made of potter's clay, which is the material flowerpots are made of.

For some reasons beans baked in any other utensil are unlike those baked in a bean pot. Just why this is so is hard to determine, but the fact remains. Possibly the thick pottery ware affects the beans in a similar manner as a meerschaum pipe affects the flavor of tobacco.

Any one can have nice baked beans if he secures a bean pot and follows these directions: First get your beans. The large red kidney variety is largely used, but the small white pea bean is more generally popular.

One quart of beans is sufficient when cooked for two meals for an average family. They should be soaked in cold water for an hour or so. Then salt and pepper should be added, together with half a teaspoonful of mustard and half a teacupful of molasses. The molasses gives the beans a delicious flavor, and at the same time it is not too pronounced nor is it possible to detect the molasses. When the beans are in the pot, half or three-quarters of a pound of pork, well streaked with lean, should be placed on top and then enough warm water poured into the pot to just cover the beans.

Beans should be baked in an oven of even temperature for either a day or a night, or, in other words, about 12 hours. It is better to bake them in the daytime, for then they can receive more attention. As the water gradually evaporates more should be added from time to time, but care should be taken to keep the beans covered. This must be done until the beans are nearly ready to be taken out, when no more water should be added, so that they will not be so moist as to be come mashed or broken.

The pot can remain in the oven, where it will simply keep hot, for an indefinite time without injury. Beans should be served in a covered dish. Beans that have been left over are delicious warmed up in a stewpan with a little water added, and many bean epicures think the more times beans are warmed over the better they are. — Exchange.