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Urbane Guerrilla · 10-07-2005, 09:19 PM

BOSTON BAKED BEANS in a CROCKPOT

When my maternal grandfather passed away, he left his baked-bean recipe for posterity. He made his in a very slow oven in a bean pot, topping it off with water if the beans started getting too dry. When I saw it cooked at 250 F, I said to myself, "Aha! Crockpot on high power!" Tried it that way and it worked fine -- don't even have to tend the pot. This is baked beans from scratch, and I haven't bought a can of Boston baked beans in over ten years. Doubles easily.

1 lb dried white beans, Navy or Great Northern
1 tsp baking soda
Water to soak, parboil, and to cover

The night before, soak the dried beans in the water. Then add the baking soda and parboil the beans in the soaking water until the bean skins break when blown on. This isn't terribly long, maybe as little as fifteen minutes. The water will foam up as the parboiling goes on; when the foam reaches the top of the pot you're parboiling in, check the beans by blowing on them. Skim off the foam, leave the beans in the water while you put into the Crock-pot:

1 sm onion
1 to 2 tsp dry mustard
2 TBSP brown sugar, or molasses and sugar to taste
(Grampa Rolie's original recipe included 1 tsp salt, but this DOESN'T need salt with the baking soda being in there already)
1/8 to 1/4 lb salt pork, cut in 1-inch pieces, per pound of dried beans, but no more than 1/4 lb or it goes too greasy. You can really hold back on the amount of salt pork.

All this goes in the bottom of the Crock-pot. Drain the beans and pour them in on the other ingredients. Add the bean water to just barely cover the beans, discarding any remainder. Cook on High for five to six hours. Around five hours, stir the potful well to check doneness and to break up some of the baked beans, thus making the sauce, then continue cooking for a while. Six hours total should really do it, but if it takes longer, it's not a problem. The beans at the top may have dried out a little, but just stir these back into the potful. At this point I check it for taste and usually end up adding some more molasses; I like baked beans rather sweet.

You can cook the beans all night and half the day on Low power, but remember to turn to High when you lift the lid to stir the beans. Don't cook it this long on High unless you really want Boston Baked Refrieds -- interesting, but it's because it's peculiar. Navy beans work well for this recipe, but I think Great Northerns actually have the real baked-bean texture; the Navy beans feel a little different.

Serve with fresh-baked bread, particularly brown bread of any sort.

There's supposed to be a vegetarian/Kosher edition of this dish in the Mediterranean, substituting olive oil for the salt pork. I haven't tried this.

10-07-2005, 09:19 PM	#2
Urbane Guerrilla Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Southern California Posts: 6,674	BOSTON BAKED BEANS in a CROCKPOT When my maternal grandfather passed away, he left his baked-bean recipe for posterity. He made his in a very slow oven in a bean pot, topping it off with water if the beans started getting too dry. When I saw it cooked at 250 F, I said to myself, "Aha! Crockpot on high power!" Tried it that way and it worked fine -- don't even have to tend the pot. This is baked beans from scratch, and I haven't bought a can of Boston baked beans in over ten years. Doubles easily. 1 lb dried white beans, Navy or Great Northern 1 tsp baking soda Water to soak, parboil, and to cover The night before, soak the dried beans in the water. Then add the baking soda and parboil the beans in the soaking water until the bean skins break when blown on. This isn't terribly long, maybe as little as fifteen minutes. The water will foam up as the parboiling goes on; when the foam reaches the top of the pot you're parboiling in, check the beans by blowing on them. Skim off the foam, leave the beans in the water while you put into the Crock-pot: 1 sm onion 1 to 2 tsp dry mustard 2 TBSP brown sugar, or molasses and sugar to taste (Grampa Rolie's original recipe included 1 tsp salt, but this DOESN'T need salt with the baking soda being in there already) 1/8 to 1/4 lb salt pork, cut in 1-inch pieces, per pound of dried beans, but no more than 1/4 lb or it goes too greasy. You can really hold back on the amount of salt pork. All this goes in the bottom of the Crock-pot. Drain the beans and pour them in on the other ingredients. Add the bean water to just barely cover the beans, discarding any remainder. Cook on High for five to six hours. Around five hours, stir the potful well to check doneness and to break up some of the baked beans, thus making the sauce, then continue cooking for a while. Six hours total should really do it, but if it takes longer, it's not a problem. The beans at the top may have dried out a little, but just stir these back into the potful. At this point I check it for taste and usually end up adding some more molasses; I like baked beans rather sweet. You can cook the beans all night and half the day on Low power, but remember to turn to High when you lift the lid to stir the beans. Don't cook it this long on High unless you really want Boston Baked Refrieds -- interesting, but it's because it's peculiar. Navy beans work well for this recipe, but I think Great Northerns actually have the real baked-bean texture; the Navy beans feel a little different. Serve with fresh-baked bread, particularly brown bread of any sort. There's supposed to be a vegetarian/Kosher edition of this dish in the Mediterranean, substituting olive oil for the salt pork. I haven't tried this. __________________ Wanna stop school shootings? End Gun-Free Zones, of course.