Molasses Baked Beans with Salt Pork (Sabbath Beans)
Tender beans, slowly confit all night with a piece of salt pork and molasses, until dark, sweet-salty, and glazed. The great communal Sunday dish.
Tender beans, slowly confit all night with a piece of salt pork and molasses, until dark, sweet-salty, and glazed. The great communal Sunday dish.
On the Lord's Day, no one may kindle the fire nor stir the pot, for rest is commanded. So on Saturday evening, I sorted the beans by candlelight, pressed the salt pork into the pot, and drowned all in molasses before sliding the crock into the back of the oven where the bread embers were dying. All night they cooked without human hand, and upon returning from the meeting house, when the lid was lifted, there was a dark, sweet aroma that seemed, itself, to have committed no Sabbath sin. Eat them hot, and bless Him who provides.
- •Dried New World beans — a pint (nourishing base)
- •Salt pork — a good piece (fat and umami)
- •Molasses — a ladleful (sweetness and color)
- •Onion — one (aromatic)
- •Water — to cover (slow cooking liquid)
Molasses Baked Beans with Salt Pork (Sabbath Beans)
Tender beans, slowly confit all night with a piece of salt pork and molasses, until dark, sweet-salty, and glazed. The great communal Sunday dish.
Why this dish? On Sunday, the Lord's Day, all work is forbidden among the Puritans of Salem — even cooking. So on Saturday evening, a large pot of beans was placed in the dying heat of the bread oven, to simmer all night and feed the family upon their return from the long meeting house in Salem Village where Reverend Parris preached.
On the Lord's Day, no one may kindle the fire nor stir the pot, for rest is commanded. So on Saturday evening, I sorted the beans by candlelight, pressed the salt pork into the pot, and drowned all in molasses before sliding the crock into the back of the oven where the bread embers were dying. All night they cooked without human hand, and upon returning from the meeting house, when the lid was lifted, there was a dark, sweet aroma that seemed, itself, to have committed no Sabbath sin. Eat them hot, and bless Him who provides.
Ingredients (period version)
- Dried New World beans — a pint (nourishing base)
- Salt pork — a good piece (fat and umami)
- Molasses — a ladleful (sweetness and color)
- Onion — one (aromatic)
- Water — to cover (slow cooking liquid)
Ingredients
- Dried white beans (navy or cannellini) — 400 g (nourishing base)
- Salt pork or salted pork belly — 200 g (fat and umami)
- Molasses — 4 tbsp (sweetness and color)
- Onion — 1, studded with 2 cloves (aromatic)
- Dry mustard — 1 tsp (spice)
- Salt and pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- The night before, soak the beans in cold water overnight. Drain.
- Pre-cook them in unsalted simmering water for 30 minutes, then drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
- In the bottom of a pot or crock, place the onion. Add the beans and bury the salt pork in the center.
- Mix molasses, mustard, and a little salt into the reserved cooking liquid, pour over the beans to cover.
- Cover and bake at 130°C (265°F) for 5 to 6 hours, adding a little hot water if it dries out.
- Uncover for the last hour to caramelize the top. Serve with rye bread.
How it was made : This overnight cooking in the cooling oven, born from the prohibition of Sunday work, is the direct ancestor of "Boston baked beans." The Puritans adopted beans from Native peoples, who already cooked them slowly with fat and maple syrup; the colonists replaced maple with West Indies molasses.
The contemporary twist : Serve in individual pots topped with a slice of toasted rye bread, and call it "the Sabbath pot" on the menu.
Sources : Sandra L. Oliver, Food in Colonial and Federal America (2005) · Keith Stavely & Kathleen Fitzgerald, America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking (2004)
Ann Putnam · Charactorium