BAKED BEANS

Original Recipe:

Put a quart of white beans to soak in soft water at night; the next morning wash them out of that water; put them into a pot with more water than will cover them; set them over the fire to simmer until they are quite tender; wash them out again, and put them into an earthen pot; scald and gash one and a half pounds of pork; place it on top of the beans and into them, so as to have the rind of the pork even with the beans; fill the pot with water in which are mixed two table-spoonfuls of molasses. Bake them five or six hours; if baked in a brick oven, it is well to have them stand in over night.

Source:

Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book and Young Housekeeper's Assistant, New and Enlarged Edition, New York: Phinney, Blakeman & Mason, 1860.

Modern-Day Adaptations:

In the days before mechanical refrigeration was available, "pork" was assumed to mean a product which had been smoked, dried or salted for preservation, either by the family at home or by the party which supplied meat to a city market. Fresh pork was available only in the fall when pigs were butchered, and even then only for a day or two since the meat would immediately begin to spoil unless cooked. If dried "country ham" style meat is used it should be soaked overnight to rehydrate it.  "Gashing" the meat was necessary to cut through the hard outer crust of meat preserved in these fashions.

"Soft water" would most likely be rainwater captured in a barrel or cistern, since water from wells was usually of high mineral content and that from rivers likely to be polluted. Adding a teaspoon or so of baking soda (which was well known and commonly available in the 19th century) to the initial soaking water is often recommended when preparing baked beans as it hastens the softening process.

We used a 1-pound bag of Great Northern dried beans; for the pork we used about a pound of jowl bacon, which might not be available everywhere. Regular bacon would work the same, as would ham hocks, leftover roast pork, or any other reasonably fatty cut which you find available. (Sorry, dieters--no way to avoid it in this case.) The rest of the recipe was followed precisely, except that the dish was cooked on top of the stove in a cast iron pot.

Results:

While the beans came out tender (a frequent challenge to those of us who rarely work with plain dried beans), a mere two tablespoons of molasses is not sufficient to make them as sweet as the modern palate expects baked beans to be. Those who like beans with onions should feel free to add one or two, finely minced, added at the point at which the dish goes on to bake. Although quite filling, the dish as Mrs. Putnam designed it did not thrill the modern diners, who rated it between 4 and 6.