Boston Baked Beans: who could imagine that you could make something so delicious from such humble ingredients?
Boston Baked Beans
Course: DinnerCuisine: American12
large servings24
side servings6-8
hours, but it's worth itDo all the prep for Step 4 during Step 3. Use a food processor for the onion: you may have to do it in two batches, so that you don’t wind up mincing the onion.
Ingredients
2 lbs dried navy beans (~4½ cups)
19 cups of water, divided
1 cup molasses
1 Tbs salt, plus more to taste
1-2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
½ tsp ground cloves
8 oz. thick-cut bacon, diced
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbs Worchestershire
Directions
- Place the beans in a large casserole pot. Cover them with 16 cups water. Place a cover on the pot, and bring the mixture almost to a boil over highest heat (1800 induction), about 14-15 minutes. Remove the cover, bring to a boil, and boil two minutes. Off heat, cover, and allow to sit for 1 hour.
- Repeat Step 1. This time, however, the mixture will come almost to a boil in about 5 minutes.
- Once again bring the mixture almost to a boil over highest heat (1800 induction), about 5 minutes. Remove the cover, bring to a boil, and reduce the heat until there are no active bubbles, but there is active steam (adjusting as you go, but eventually settling on 400 induction). Cook without boiling until the beans are creamy right through to the center, but their skins are not flaking off, 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 250ºF.
- Pour the beans into a colander. Let them sit while you add 3 cups of water to the unwashed pot you used for the beans. Add the molasses, salt, pepper, mustard, and cloves to the pot. Bring to a boil. Off heat, stir in the bacon and onion. Pour in the beans and gently fold the mixture. Gently tamp the beans down to even them out and to make sure that the liquid level is equal to the bean level. (Add water if needed.)
- Cover the pot, and bake the beans until the bean liquid has thickened, 4-6 hours, depending on the finished texture you prefer. The liquid should be thicker than a consomme, for sure. Beyond that, if it’s more like a medium-bodied soup, you’ll get saucy beans. If it’s more like a thin sauce, you’ll get thicker texture that is wet, but not saucy – which is what I prefer. Check for salt. Gently fold in the vinegar and Worcestershire. The beans aren’t really finished until you let them cool so that they’re still warm, but no longer piping hot.
Notes
- Substitutions: white beans for the navy
Restaurant-Quality:
Yup, “restaurant-quality” is my highest rating. These beans are, in fact, better than I’ve been served in many barbecue and fried chicken joints. Their texture is stunningly perfect and their flavor is spot on. I’ve had sweeter beans, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing.
Cooking:
- If in Step 1, the beans and water nearly max out your pot, so long as you have enough room to bring the mixture to a boil without it boiling over, you’ll be fine. Watch it carefully. If you’re able to accommodate the boil during Step 1, then the entire recipe will work in that pot, even though you’ll doubt it as least a few times along the way.
- This is an all-day recipe, and I could imagine that it might seem daunting for that reason. But don’t fear! This is so easy! The only “work” is dicing the bacon, which is not at all difficult if you have a sharp knife. Using a processor on the onion couldn’t be easier. The rest of the time is vastly unattended. You don’t even have to be in the kitchen except now and then.
- You can and should make these beans in advance. They’re even better the next day: the flavor is the same, but the color and texture improve overnight. Refrigerate them, of course, for storage. You can reheat a single portion in the microwave in about one minute on full power.
- The full two teaspoons of pepper will give the beans an obvious kick. I find it distracting, though, and so I prefer the lesser amount.
Servings:
- My understanding is that most people eat Boston Baked Beans hot – although I’d suggest warm rather than piping hot. However, at picnics and potlucks (which is the context in which I’m most familiar with them), they’re often served at room temperature, and I love them that way. They’re also good cold (see “Leftovers,” below).
- Baked beans go great with burgers. It goes without saying that they get on well with anything barbecued or grilled. Ham, obviously. Chicken, yes. Some people serve them as a side to a Thanksgiving turkey. That’s not part of my family tradition, so it seems a little curious to me. Alongside pot roast – that’s also not part of my tradition, but it seems intriguing.
Leftovers:
Leftover baked beans are sometimes (commonly, at my house) eaten straight from the fridge, and may be used as a cold sandwich filling – this works best if you make them thick.
At my house, we also like to treat the leftovers as if they were refried beans, and make burritos out of them. The flavor profile is clearly different, so you have to be creative about the other ingredients you use: pulled pork, sharp cheddar, pickled onions, etc. Some traditional burrito ingredients – like jalapenos – would be right at home.
Serving Sizes:
If you’re serving these beans as a main dish, you’ll get 12 servings from this recipe. However, eating them as a main is completely foreign to me, unless we’re talking “boy dinner.” Or maybe if you were camping, and reheating the beans over a campfire, you might have them as a main. I’ve only ever had them as a side dish. You’ll get at least 24 side servings from this recipe.
Social Learning:
What makes baked beans “Boston baked beans” is the flavor profile: navy beans, salt pork, dry mustard, and molasses. I substituted thick-cut bacon, because I don’t think I’ve ever so much as laid eyes on salt pork in my life.
You’re not the only one who will love these beans. Gut bacteria love them, too. We all have bacteria that reside in our gut. Their growth and metabolism produces gas, which we … uh … expel. Beans – navy beans more so than many other types – cause a sudden increase in bacterial activity, which results a sudden increase in gas. Beans contain carbohydrates that cannot be digested in our upper intestine, so it delivers these carbohydrates more-or-less intact to the lower intestine. Our gut bacteria ferment them there, which produces lots of gas.
Boiling dried beans briefly and then soaking them, leeches out most of the troublesome carbohydrates. Discarding the soaking water, then, results in less gassy beans. However, this process also removes significant quantities of nutrients and flavor. Although this seems like a a high price to pay, you are still left with the protein, fiber, the bulk of the mineral content, and tons of deliciousness.
Boston Baked Beans
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker, “Boston Baked Beans,” in The Joy of Cooking (New York: Scribner, 1997), 285. Harold McGee, “The Problem of Legumes and Flatulence,” in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (New York: Scribner, 2004), 486. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #2 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs. Personal note: to get my crazy propane stove to 250ºF, you have to set it to 235.
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