Feb 11, 2012

New England-Style Baked Beans

Flavored with molasses, maple syrup, and rum, this filling bean dish is simple to prepare; all it takes is time. Six hours of cooking yields thick, rich results. Serve it with hearty brown bread to mop up its flavorful sauce. This recipe first appeared in our March 2012 issue, with Gabriella Gershenson's article Full of Beans.

Credit: Todd Coleman

SERVES 6�8

Ingredients

1 lb. dried navy beans, picked over and rinsed
1 medium yellow onion, ends trimmed, peeled, and left whole
4 whole cloves
8 oz. slab bacon or salt pork, trimmed and cut into 2″ x 14″ pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tsp. dry mustard powder
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tbsp. dark rum
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the beans and 10 cups of water to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan over high heat, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid, and let the beans sit for 1 1/2 hours. (This "quick soak" produces effects similar to those achieved by soaking the beans in water overnight.) Drain the beans in a colander, and discard the cooking liquid.

2. Heat oven to 250°. Stud the onion with the cloves and place in a 4-qt. Dutch oven along with the beans, bacon, maple syrup, molasses, dry mustard, and 3 cups boiling water; stir to combine. Cover pot with a lid, and place in the oven; cook, lifting the lid and stirring occasionally, for 3 hours. Stir in ketchup and vinegar. Cover with lid again, and return to the oven; cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick glaze, about 3 hours more.

3. Stir in rum; season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls; serve with brown bread, if you like.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #145

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Ratings & Reviews (7)

by tputnam on 2012-02-29

Quite good, but I will cut down on the cloves next time - four was too many. I soaked the beans overnight instead of doing the "quick soak" and the beans took forever to cook, so I'll follow the directions next time. I did check the date on the bean package, because old beans sometimes *never* get tender but they were not outdated. I added more ketchup and some brown sugar and spicy mustard when I reheated the beans,along with some water to thin them a bit, and found them to be tastier.

by PTHOMPSON22 on 2012-03-01

We really enjoyed this recipe. However, it was a little dry, next time I will add additional cup of water.

by ERNEST PIPER on 2012-03-01

I'm from Maine. I make baked beans the old way in a bean pot. Everyone has his/her own take on baked beans but I followed this recipe just for fun. It worked good, although like the comment before, you generally need more water and have to add some boiling water from time to time. Depends on your oven. The quick soak method is a good shortcut. Love Saveur recipes, but I've just about had it with the "if you like" throwaway line in multiple recipes. Smarmy and superfluous.

by MKELLY415 on 2012-03-24

made this for the first time...smell throughout the house was great..could not wait to taste. I used norther beans and an extra cup of water because i read other reviews so tried to follow some recommendations. Next time i will try with navy beans and only the three cups of water. they came out excellent though.....then i realized i forgot the dark rum. put that in, and took another helping. did not like it at all. will not use rum next time. Overall however...cant wait to try again.

by HEADSRED on 2012-04-02

made this for the first time..followed recipe almost exact but I did not quick soak my beans . I just put a pound of dry beans to soak overnight in water. I cooked it in a cast iron dutch oven and put oven in my smoker since i was cooking a bunch of meat at the same temp anyway. Also did not use the rum since i had none. Also used a sweet onion vs yellow. Cooking time was little longer than 6 hrs but not by much. I did not find the water to be too little
bottom line I was very happy with the results and will cook these again.

by CHEFGIRL358 on 2012-07-16

I made these and used a nice big meaty hamhock I had from Easter. They were delicious and AMAZING up until I added the rum. That absolutely DESTROYED the dish. Absolutely made it disgusting. I couldn't believe that 1 measly tablespoon of booze could ruin a huge pot of beans, but it did. LEAVE OUT THE RUM!

by SALMONMORNAY on 2012-07-30

Loved this recipe, altho I used smoked ribs instead of bacon and that worked, I'll probably add a dash more rum next time but cut the sweetness - once u combine maple, molasses AND ketchup its getting pretty sugary. On the whole the family loved it, will definitely make it again AND the house smells soooo good while they cook

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