Boston Baked Beans

Boston baked beans — navy beans slow-baked with salt pork, molasses, mustard, and onion in a covered crock for 6-8 hours — is the dish that gave Boston its nickname "Beantown" and that represents the Puritan New England kitchen at its most fundamental: thrifty (dried beans, cheap pork), patient (all day in the oven), and deeply satisfying despite the modesty of the ingredients. The dish was traditionally prepared on Saturday, baked overnight in the cooling bread oven (the Puritan Sabbath prohibition on cooking meant Sunday dinner had to be prepared in advance), and served for Saturday supper, Sunday breakfast, and Sunday dinner. The molasses — imported from the Caribbean through the Triangle Trade — connects Boston baked beans to the same colonial sugar economy that connects to the African diaspora narrative.

Small white beans (navy beans or pea beans) soaked overnight, then baked in a covered ceramic bean pot with a chunk of salt pork (pushed into the centre, rind scored), a generous pour of molasses (dark, full-flavoured — not blackstrap, which is too bitter), dry mustard, onion, and sometimes a splash of cider vinegar or a touch of brown sugar. The beans bake at 120-135°C for 6-8 hours (or overnight), producing a thick, dark, sweet-savoury pot where the beans are tender but intact, the salt pork has rendered its fat into the sauce, and the molasses has darkened and concentrated into a coating that clings to every bean.

Brown bread (steamed, molasses-darkened — see AM2-05). Coleslaw. Hot dogs or frankfurters. The combination of sweet, dark beans with a cold, vinegary slaw is the textural and flavour architecture of the Saturday night supper.