Boston Baked Beans: who could imagine that you could make something so delicious from such humble ingredients?

Restaurant-Quality:

Yup, “restaurant-quality” is my highest rating. These beans are, in fact, better than some that I’ve been served in 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.

Ingredients:

• The optional ingredients add depth to the flavor profile. The beans are fine either way.
• The full two teaspoons of pepper will give the beans an obvious kick. I find it distracting, though, and so I prefer 1/2 if I want the minimal amount of heat, and 1 if I want it to be more of an aftertaste. 

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.
• In Step 3, I bring the beans to a gentle boil at 1800 (the “boil” setting) on my induction burner. Then, once per minute, I turn down by one or two settings until I eventually reach 400. The reason I like to use induction for this recipe is that it excels at managing ultra-low temperatures like this. It would be challenging and require a lot of hovering to get the beans to steam without boiling on all but the most sophisticated gas stoves.
• This is an all-day recipe, and I could imagine that it might seem daunting for that reason. And I really do mean “all day.” Ten hours is a long time. 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 or good kitchen shears. 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.
• I should warn you, though, that if you do use a food processor on the onion, get the onion chopped, not minced. If you process the onion to the point that the onions are very wet, it will make it that much harder for you to get the right sauce texture without overbaking the beans. If your onions are dripping with juice, you should strain them before adding them to the pot. But then you’re getting rid of flavor. TLDR: if you’re worried about your processing skills, use a knife to chop the onion instead.
• 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.

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. And hot dogs. 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 about cowboys, camping, or both. 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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