Maine Baked Beans

[Chris Amirault]

Maine Baked Beans

This recipe for Maine Baked Beans is an adaptation of a recipe printed on the packaging for the soldier beans sold by the Kennebec Bean Company of North Vassalboro, Maine. It has no pretensions to be anything other than what it is: a solid, meaty baked bean dish that makes barbecue, hot dogs, johnnycakes, fresh corn, and just about anything else sing. They also make for a wondrous winter breakfast, and the recipe is built for overnight cooking as a result.

This method is especially fine if you're using the hardy Maine soldier bean, a smoky, firm bean that's worth hunting down (and unlike the red kidney beans that others, including John Thorne in Serious Pig, suggest). If you find them, I urge you to take advantage of their perfection and cook 'em long, low, and slow.

Though salt pork works here, the dish brings out the best in fine bacon. Just make sure it's thickly cut; you want the toothy texture of the lardons in the final dish. Most recipes suggest a 4:1 bean to hog ratio, but I find that these particular beans happily soak up porky goodness and usually use 1/2 pound.

These beans go for caramel depth, not tooth-aching sweetness, so add a T or two of brown sugar if the molasses isn't enough for you.

For best results, use a 2 1/2 quart bean pot. A dutch oven will also do the trick.

• 1 lb soldier beans (see above)
  
• 1/3 c molasses
  
• 2 tsp dry mustard
  
• 1 T kosher salt
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
  
• 1 tsp allspice, ground
  
• 1 tsp cloves, ground
  
• 1 medium onion, 1/2" slices
  
• 1/4 lb slab bacon, cut into lardons
  

1. Soak the beans overnight. Simmer in water the next day until a bean's skin splits when you blow on it. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid.

2. Combine all other ingredients except the lardons and place them in the bean pot. Sprinkle the bacon over the top of the beans, and pour in enough of the reserved bean liquid to cover everything. You want about 1/4" of liquid over the beans; if you're doing this overnight, err on the side of caution and add extra, for you don't the beans drying out.

3. Just before you're going to hit the hay, place the beans in the oven, turn the oven to 275F, and go to bed. (If you're in a hurry, you can bump the heat up to 300F and cook them for six hours or so, but once you've woken to the smell of beans, you'll never go back.) When you wake up 8-10 hours later in a house that smells the way heaven smells to a Mainer, you'll probably want to add some more liquid to get the consistency you prefer. Soldier beans are very forgiving, especially if you're keeping that oven low and using a bean pot, and they'll have both tenderness and integrity for a good while.

The beans are ready when you think they're ready.

Keywords: Side, Easy, Beans, American

( RG2027 )