Boston Baked Beans

Soak 1 Cup Dried Navy Beans

This time around, R. and I put the beans to soak in a glass bowl and nuked the thing for a couple minutes until it was around 130 degrees. We then let it sit while we got everything else ready for what we were making (this, and Navy Bean Soup), then proceeded from there. The beans were from this year's crop. This probably would not work if the beans were old.

Chop, then cook in a small amount of oil, broth or water:

1/2 medium onion

Put in a Dutch oven, or casserole (with oven safe lid):

the onion
1/4 Cup molasses
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar of maple syrup (optional)
beans (without their soak water, or count that water towards the rest) 3-4 Cups water

If the dish you selected permits you to do so, you can bring this all to a boil on the stove. Otherwise (or after you have brought it to a boil), put the casserole or Dutch oven with the lid on in the oven at 250 degrees. You don't need to worry about preheating, per se, since it's going to stay in that oven for somewhere between 6 and 12 hours. There are no subtleties here.

At some point, the water will all be gone: soaked up, evaporated, whatever. At that point, if you believe the beans are done, take them out or at least turn the oven off. If you think they aren't done, add more water and continue. If you plan to leave this cooking in the oven overnight, I'd put it in fairly late in the evening, not at, say, 7 or 8 p.m., when there's a good chance it'll be done cooking at, say, 4:30 a.m., thus interrupting your sleep.

Created January 12, 2008
Updated January 12, 2008