Quite some time back, when I was still fairly young in fact, I became enamored, some might say almost obsessed with, finding the recipe for “Boston Baked Beans”. After much searching, I found a recipe for it in an old Campbell’s cookbook. Basically, it just involved taking a can of ordinary baked beans, and adding a couple of ingredients to it, like mustard and catsup, along with some minced onions. I was a little disappointed. It really didn’t take that spectacular–or that different. Then eventually I concluded perhaps any baked beans (like the kind you find in a can at your local supermarket) was Boston Baked Beans, and I left it at that.
Is this true? Are any baked beans Boston Baked Beans, or is there more to it than that? I still must know.
(BTW, as a little side note, in case any of you didn’t know, Boston got the nickname “Bean Town” from Boston Baked Beans. Boston Brown Bread also apparently comes from this city [and I never even tried that]. Interesting:).)
P.S. Please feel free to include links for recipes, if helpful.
my recipe for Boston baked beans:
normal baked beans
onion
mustard
fake bacon/notdogs pan fried (the notdogs are particularly good) Vegetarian
Golden syrup/treacle (most recipes I’ve seen have treacle but golden syrup works fine)
in a dish in the oven until bubbly.
om nom nom nom
Durgin Park is a fascintating place that has been slinging classic New England food for ages, this is what purports to be their baked bean recipe. I think 1827 could be considered to be early enough to be one of the absolute classic recipes for beans
I also love love love their indian pudding.
If you ever get a chance to eat lunch in Boston, go there.
Any authentic recipe for BBB will start with dried beans. Once you have had these made-from-scratch and not sickly sweet high-frustose corn syrup laden canned beans you will be a fan for life.
I got my recipe from the Frugal Gourmet; which should give you an idea how long I’ve been using it!
And BTW, making them from scratch generally means less “after-effects,” not that htere’s anything wrong with that either…
I remember canned Boston Baked Beans from pre-high fructose corn syrup days; but I’m sure making them from scratch is better. They are definitely molasses-heavy–not the “doctored” canned beans we sometimes made.
As a reminder of her sojourn in New England, my mother would usually serve canned Brown Bread along with the canned Boston Baked Beans! She had also developed a fondness for parsnips–thankfully, rarely available in Texas grocery stores…
Then, there were Bean Sandwiches–a remnant from Depression days. Like the Fake Apple Pie made with Ritz Crackers…
Yep. B&M sells it right next to their baked beans at the mega-mart.
To the OP: do a search for “baked beans recipe” in this forum from a while back. Look for the thread started by Johnny LA. I included a couple of authentic recipes in my responses.
My advice is to forget about Boston Baked Beans as meaning anything other than just baked beans (at least in the U.S.) and instead focus on the Boston Brown Bread, which is in fact interesting.
(What I wonder is what were the other kinds of baked beans before the Boston style became the standard?)
I started a related thread on this last week. There are some items that when made from scratch just aren’t much better than items off the shelf. Baked beans are one of those things I think. B&M are the quintessential New England baked beans. And brown bread (baked in a can!!!) is a must try and is still found is stores.
The ingredents that I use (if you must) are:
1 pound dried navy or great northern beans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 thick strips bacon
A good place to start is Bush’s brand. Their baked beans come in a number of varieties, all pretty different. BBBs are a little more bitter and molassesy than the others.
Having said that, I’ve tried making them from scratch a number of times and have always been disappointed. They still come out white and flavorless. I’ve doubled, trippled, even quadrupled the amount of molasses, with no success.
Baked beans from a can, even if nominally “Boston” baked beans, are not as good as beans made from scratch. They’re over-sweetened and over-processed. I eat 'em all the time, but not as good as making your own.
The first time I made them from scratch, I didn’t realize how much the dry beans would expand in volume when I soaked them overnight. I woke up to beans all over the kitchen countertop!
Not the most handicapped friendly area of Boston, nor is the place the most handicapped friendly. Unless they finally decided to open an elevator or something.
Ugh… my mother used to make us eat that when we were kids. There are fewer vile things in the face of the earth. And as a native New Englander with roots going back to pre-Revolutionary times, I have to confess that I absolutely HATE Boston Baked beans, too. Further, I thought I hated all beans because of that, and only found out how good they can be when I had Southwest BBQ as an adult. My ancestors are turning over in their graves.
