That should say, “in the morning, drain, add a chunk of salt pork (for fat and salt), 2 TBSP of Molasses, 5 TBSP of white sugar, and cover with water”.
I’ve made them both ways - from dry navy beans and canned navy beans.
The only real differences I’ve found are the cost (dry is cheaper) and the time (canned is quicker). Since I rarely plan that far ahead, I usually just use the canned.
Twice a year (4th of July and Labor Day), for most of the 20th century and still today, there’s been a bbq at the Mattole Grange Hall, Mattole Valley, Humboldt County California.
At the gate to the Grange grounds, bbq attendees purchase two types of tickets: Meat and Beans. All other food, sides, drinks and desserts, silverware, place settings, etc, you have to bring yourself.
The meat is whole beef roasts (usually 20-30 of them) which are injected with marinade and whole cloves of garlic, and rubbed with a collection of spices from heaven. These are slow cooked over night in a huge burlap-sealed bbq pit, suspended over coals from a variety of local hardwoods, taken off the coals during the bbq using pitch forks, and carved up for the hungry masses by the same 12 white apron-clad local ranchers since the dawn of time.
The beans are prepared in the days before the bbq in generally this fashion:
A huge (50 gallon?) black “witch’s cauldron” is propped up on a tripod of sorts, made with three pieces of firewood, and filled with dried white beans that have been soaked. Molasses, salt pork, spices and seasonings (plus a bunch of stuff that I don’t even know and that changes from year to year depending on who draws “bean detail”).
Chains attached to a pulley system are looped over the two blunt projections sticking out from the lip of the cauldron, and it is raised a few feet off the ground. A fire is lit beneath it and the are cooked for most of the day before the bbq. In the evening, the cauldron is pulled off of the fire, back onto the wood tripod, and sealed.
Sealing is done by draping new, clean bedsheets over the simmering bean mixture, then a fitted wooden lid is set in, sitting on top of the lipped cauldron rim. Back come the chains and pulley, and the whole thing is lifted up and swung over to a big hole in the ground. Once settled snuggly and level in the hole, a piece of burlap is thrown over the sealed cauldron, and it is burried a feet or two below ground.
A small fire is built on top of the burrial site, mostly to keep the drunken townsfolk wandering around outside the traditional dance in the grange hall the night before the bbq, from walking across the beans.
The next morning, “Bean” tickets and empty tupperware in hand, a crowd gathers around for the apparently fascinating and photo-worthy tradition of digging up the beans, hoisting them out of the hole, uncovering them, and spooning out the first, hot, delicious ladlefull.
Damn…I forgot the huge (6 foot long) wooden oar-like stirrer that is used to stir the beans while they’re simmering, and to homogenize the settled cooked beans before serving them.
Add a few drops of Beano to your beans before serving.
I tried making baked beans once years ago and they didn’t turn out well at all. The recipe was similar to the one posted here (minus the flesh). Dunno why they didn’t turn out.
I’m happy with Bush’s vegetarian beans right out of the can. It makes me feel like a total hobo.
I just made them over the weekend. Here’s another great recipe:
Serves 4 o 6 4 ounces salt pork trimmed of rind and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 ounces bacon (2 slices), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 medium onion chopped fine
1/2 cup mild molasses
1 tablespoon mild molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard
1 pound dried small white beans rinsed and picked over
table salt
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
ground black pepper
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees. Add salt pork and bacon to 8-quart Dutch oven; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and most fat is rendered, about 7 minutes. Add onion and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 8 minutes. Add 1/2 cup molasses, mustard, beans, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 9 cups water; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Cover pot and set in oven. Bake until beans are tender, about 4 hours, stirring once after 2 hours. Remove lid and continue to bake until liquid has thickened to syrupy consistency, 1 to 1 1/2 hours longer. Remove beans from oven; stir in remaining tablespoon of molasses, vinegar, and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Oh yeah, I forgot to comment on this unholy post.
The farting should be considered a BONUS, not a negative.
When we were kids, we’d try to see who could be the first to fart after eating beans. Extra points for actually squeaking one out while you were still at the table.
Beans give a fart volume and body, but they’re not always the smelliest. If I have some dairy along with the beans, bar the door. Beans for volume, dairy for smell. A disassterous combination.
Here’s a vegetarian baked bean recipe that I like, from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. No tomato sauce, but it does have barbecue sauce, and the result is recognizably the same dish as canned baked beans (if that makes any sense):
2 cups dried navy beans
2-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup molasses or pure maple syrup (I use maple syrup, just because we’re more likely to have that at any given time than molasses)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Combine beans with garlic and onions in a large soup pot. Cover with water by at least an inch, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about an hour and a half. Add water to the pot if needed to maintain the water level.
When the beans are ready, drain them and mix in the other ingredients. You can either simmer them over low heat on the stovetop for at least 30 minutes, or put them in a baking dish and bake them, uncovered, at 350 for at least 30 minutes. If you used an ovenproof pot to cook the beans, you can put the pot directly in the oven. They will be better the longer they cook.
I’ve also used canned white beans instead of dried navy beans, and had it turn out pretty well. Skip the simmering step for canned beans, and add the onion and garlic with everything else.
[ein Strassenräuber]
As is their Bavarian Style Saurkraut…nothing (homemade, canned, jarred or bagged) comes close. They sold the recipe to Great Lakes Kraut Company and it’s packaged under the Silver Floss name.
[/ein Strassenräuber]
I like Alton Brown’s recipe. I won’t post it, but I will link to it.
When I make a pot of these beans, that’s pretty much all I will eat until they’re gone. You can imagine that this is not popular with my wife.
When cooking beans from scratch, don’t cook them with tomatoes - they won’t cook right and will remain hard as stones. Add the tomatoes or tomato sauce after the beans are soft.
I lied - this is Mom’s recipe, not Em’s. Em just made them all the time.
2lbs dried navy beans
2qts cold water
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tbsp salt
4 tsp vinegar
1 tsp prepared mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup tomato soup concentrate
1/16 tsp black pepper
hot water if needed
1/2 lb salt pork, sliced
Pick over and wash beans thouroughly. Add cold water, cover, heat to boiling and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain but do not discard the liquid.Place onion slices in bottom of a bean pot or a 10-cup casserole. Combine the next 7 ingredients and turn into the bean pot. Add the beans and enough hot drained liquid or water to cover (about 2/12 cups). Arrange salt pork
slices on top, cover, and bake in very slow oven (250 degrees F) 7 to 8 hours. After 4 hours, remove 2 cups of beans and mash. Then, stir into the remaining beans carefully. Cover and continue to bake. Add additional hot water as needed. Beans should be just covered with the thick, luscious liquid. Remove cover 1 hour before end of cooking time to allow salt pork to brown. 10 to 12 servings of beans. ENJOY.
This was transcribed from Mom’s recipe and emailed to me by my niece, Miss Magic8Ball. Additional comments which were included:
“6/7 you smell funny”
“and the blood of your first born child”
“bean liquid crystal meth”
“(actual wording of the recipe… luscious? are we joking here?)”
" and flatulance"
Sorry… where it says ‘Add additional hot water as needed’, it should say add that OR bean liquid.
I second the Alton Brown suggestion. I’d never made baked beans before - in fact, I’m not sure I’d eaten baked beans before - but they came out delicious. Now they are a regular part of our repertoire. They work OK in a crock pot, but an iron dutch oven makes them fantabulous.
My dad used to make them fairly often (now he usually uses canned and adds various stuff depending on if he wants sweet or spicy).
He used the dried white navy beans, soaked overnight, and cooked them in the same ways described above. The ingredients were never the same - he had a spicy version with lots of peppers, and a sweeter one with onions and bacon, but the other additives really depended on what he had in the house at the time. I get my cooking skills from my dad - take whatever you have in the house, mix it together, and hope for the best.
From the Ren & Stimpy Show: Ask Dr. Stupid!
From a letter: Dear Dr. Stupid, What’s that big white thing on the top of my baked beans?
Dr Stupid: That white thing Is the QUEEN BEAN! The other beans are worker beans whose job is to serve her!
Thank you, Dr. Stupid. 
For years and years, my mom helped make the baked beans for Boy Scout Troop 191’s Annual Baked Bean Supper, and they were the best. The recipe is very similar to that posted by silenus above, but with slightly different proportions, which makes all the difference!
Boy Scout Baked Beans
1 lb. navy beans
1/4 lb salt pork
1/2 T salt
1 small onion
1/4 c unsulphered molasses
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1/4 t. dry mustard.
Soak the beans overnight in enough water to more than cover.
Parboil 10 minutes or until skins pop with 1/2 t baking soda.
Rinse in cold water.
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 300’ or less for 3-6 hours, adding hot water as needed. Uncover the last 1/2 hour to brown if necessary.
I use a wonderful old brown bean pot, but any deep casserole dish would do.
The most important part is to make sure you add water while they bake…the liquidy part should be right up to the top of the beans until that last half hour.
Now I have to sit down and do some math to see if I can eat these now that I have this surgically induced sugar intolerance. There are a few varieties of Bushes beans I can have, and the Heinz beans in the British foods section. But now I’m craving these!
Oh, and if you feel they need tomato sauce…serve with hot dogs and ketchup. I won’t complain if the kethcup mixes in with the beans.
:eek: I never imagined baked-beans-from-scratch would involve the kind of time commitment you put into roasting a turkey!
silenus’ recipe (post #5) requires overnight soaking (no surprise there, if you start with dried beans), 1 hour standing, 1 hour simmering, 5-7 hours of baking.
Trunk’s recipe (post #20) requires overnight soaking and 5-7 hours of cooking.
honeydewgrrl’s recipe (post #23) requires soaking and cooking “most of the day.”
Labdad’s recipe (post #26) requires 5 to 5-1/2 hours of baking (soaking not mentioned, but I infer it’s necessary).
GingerOfTheNorth’s recipe (post #32) requires 7 to 8 hours of backing (soaking not mentioned).
kittenblue’s recipe (post #37) requires overnight soaking and 3-6 hours of baking.
Astonishingly, Anne Neville’s vegetarian recipe (post #28) does not mention soaking and apparently requires only 30 minutes of cooking! Are we talking about the same vegetable?!
My mom made fantstic baked beans, probably my most favorite food. I don’t know the full recipe, but I do know that it included onions, molasses, brown sugar. Navy beans or something called great northern beans (I think) were each good. And a leftover ham bone with big chunks of ham still on it.
She would also bake bread with it. That would be my entire meal. And for breakfast the next day - cold beans spread on a chunk of homemade bread.
After I left home, my siblings would say they knew when I was making a visit 'cause Mom was making beans.