There’s nothing better at this time of year than a home filled with the sweet smell of baking beans. Not only is the aroma wholesome and enticing, but the extended cooking time means your kitchen will be toasty warm even on the coldest day.
Representing slow-cooked food at its finest, baked beans have a long history in New England, and continue to be a culinary staple to this day. The traditional recipe for baked beans calls for salt pork, but I prefer to make mine vegetarian using cold-pressed vegetable oil instead.
To achieve success with baked beans, you’ll need four essential ingredients: A ceramic bean pot (which can be purchased for around $20), dry beans, seasonings and time.
Preparation starts the evening before, when you sort through, rinse and soak your dry beans overnight. Many baked bean recipes from Maine call for parboiling the soaked beans for a half hour or until you can lightly blow on a bean and its skin will crack. I tend to skip this step and go straight to the baking, but you may prefer to parboil them.
It’s fairly easy to forget to soak your beans overnight and, thankfully, there’s a shortcut you can take in this situation. If your beans haven’t soaked, just sort and rinse dry beans and put them in a pot, cover with cold water and boil them until the skins wrinkle or, using the traditional step above, break apart when you lightly blow on them. This will take an hour or more, depending on how long ago the beans were harvested.
Recipes for baked beans abound, and I’ve tried many variations. But the two recipes I use most often are the classic molasses variety and a sugar-free version seasoned with chili powder. This sugar-free version, which I call South of the Border Baked Beans, is ideal for burritos, and leftovers make tasty refried beans.
With the Super Bowl scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., Sunday offers an excellent opportunity to cook and serve homemade baked beans.
Get your beans in the oven by 10:30 a.m., and you’ll be serving fresh-from-the-oven baked beans by kickoff.
MAINE BAKED BEANS
2 cups dry navy beans
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
3 tablespoons minimally refined cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Maine sea salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or other cold-pressed vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/8 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups boiling water
Pick through dry beans and remove broken beans and any rocks or debris. Using a colander, rinse the beans in cold water and then add them to a covered pot. Cover the beans with cold water so there is roughly an inch of water above the beans. Soak overnight.
If you can’t soak the beans overnight, parboil them instead. Follow the directions above, then place the pot on the stove and bring the water and beans to a boil (for an hour or more). Once the bean skins wrinkle, remove the pot from the stove.
After soaking or parboiling, preheat the oven to 250 degrees, drain the beans into a colander, and spoon them into an appropriately sized bean pot. Mix all the seasonings together in a small bowl. Be careful not to add too much molasses, as it can cause beans to harden as they bake. Turn spices into the bean pot on top of soaked, drained beans.
Add enough boiling water to cover the beans. Mix until seasonings are well dispersed.
Bake for eight hours. Check the beans occasionally to make sure they aren’t drying out, but don’t stir the beans. Add more boiling water if necessary.
Begin to test if the beans are baked after six hours (baking time will vary depending on your stove). The cover can be removed for the last hour of baking. The beans will keep for up to five days in the refrigerator. Serves four to six.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER BAKED BEANS
3 cups dry pinto beans
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or other cold-pressed vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon smoked Maine sea salt
2 cups boiling water
Pick through dry beans and remove broken ones and any rocks or debris. Using a colander, rinse the beans in cold water and add them to a covered pot. Cover the beans with cold water so there is roughly an inch of water above the beans. Soak overnight.
If you can’t soak the beans overnight, parboil them instead. Follow the directions above and then place the pot on the stove and bring the water and beans to a boil. Once the skins wrinkle, remove the pot from the stove.
After soaking or parboiling, preheat the oven to 250 degrees, drain the beans into a colander and spoon them into an appropriately sized bean pot. Add the onions, garlic and seasonings. Pour in enough boiling water to cover the beans. Mix everything together and cover the bean pot.
Bake for eight hours. Check the beans every few hours, but do not stir. If the water level falls below the beans, add more boiling water. Start testing for doneness around six hours (baking time will vary depending on your stove). The cover can be removed during the last hour of baking.
The beans will keep for up to five days in the refrigerator. Serves four to six.
Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at: akamila@pressherald.com
Twitter: AveryYaleKamila
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