Family Summit and Baked Beans
I pulled a Cynthia last night and didn’t go to a party I’d been really looking forward to. Suffice to say lousy and chaotic day, worked a little late and then had a family summit meeting about issues-that-had-to-be-discussed. By the end of that I was in a foul, foul mood and even the thought of wonderful friends and food could not pull me out of it. I threw a dinner together, watched an Amy Schumer, took a pain pill and went to bed. God my life is exciting. The one thing I was clinging to was that I was going to plant this afternoon before it rained. I woke up this morning, looked out the window, and it had rained.
In other news Owen met with his French teacher to get some help. She came up with a few ideas….to maybe take notes on one side of the paper and draw his tacos etc on the other side…AND…in a stroke of brilliant teaching she suggested he could also incorporate his tacos into his French work. For instance, he could draw a taco holding a book and then write ‘this is a book’ in French. I really love this teacher. I haven’t even met her but I love her. Owen was quite excited about this and confessed he does already draw baguettes sometimes. Lord I love that child. He will be the death of me but I do adore him. Later he showed me a drawing he’d done of a REALLY tall skinny taco looking at a baguette that was as tall as he was. The taco was looking at the baguette and saying, “fuck you.” Again I tell you....the death of me….
On a final note…despite not going to the party, my batch of homemade baked beans is DELICIOUS. I was quite taken with them. When I talked to my sister Debbie the evening I was making them, she reminded me that our grandmother made her own baked beans….she recalls being impressed as at home we had the ones in the can. I wish I had my grandma's recipe, but this one is a pretty traditional New England version of baked beans so perhaps it’s close. Of course she would have used salt pork but I used bacon…. Oh, and I added a bit on finely diced (thank you Ernie) red and green bell pepper just because....
Boston Baked Beans
Jasper White
finecooking.com
1 lb. navy beans, yellow-eye beans, or other dried white beans
4 oz. salt pork, rind removed in one piece and reserved, meat cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 medium onion (5 to 6 oz.), cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 tsp. finely chopped garlic (optional)
4 to 5 cups water; more as needed
2 Tbs. dark molasses (but not blackstrap)
2 Tbs. maple syrup
3 Tbs. Heinz chili sauce or tomato ketchup
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
1 Tbs. apple-cider vinegar
Pick over the beans for imperfections or foreign matter. Soak them in water overnight. Discard any “floaters” and drain.
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Heat a large Dutch oven or other heavy-based 5-qt. pot over medium heat. Add the diced salt pork and cook until crisp and golden, letting most of the fat render, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic (if using) and cook until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add 4 cups of the water, the molasses, maple syrup, chili sauce or ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Stir well to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the drained beans and the reserved pork rind and wait for the boil to return. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven.
After the beans have been in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 300°F. After 1 hour, check the pot and add water as needed to keep the beans just barely covered. Check it again every hour. You may need to add up to 1 cup for navy beans and 1-1/2 cups water for yellow-eye beans, but be wary of making them too watery, especially near the end of cooking.
The beans are ready when they’re very soft and tender yet still retain their shape, about 2 to 2-1/2 hours for navy beans; 3-1/2 hours for yellow-eye beans. Remove the beans from the oven and discard the pork rind. Add the vinegar and season the beans with salt and more pepper, if you like. Stir the beans gently; as you stir, the starches will be released and the baked beans will become lightly thickened. Don’t overmix when they’re this hot. Let them sit for at least 20 minutes before serving. They can also be cooled completely, and then gently reheated.