Maple Baked Beans

By John, 12 April, 2013
Region
Vermont
Description

Maple Baked BeansThis is a delicious version of the more famous Boston Baked Beans. They go well with pork dishes and turkey or chicken, as the maple is a lighter flavor than the molasses of their Beantown brethren. 

I bet they'd be great with fishcakes and a corn muffin for a Yankee breakfast, too!

I made them with Soldier Beans, which are traditional in Maine and much of New Hampshire and Vermont.

Yield
20 Servings
Preparation time
8 hours
Cooking time
7 hours, 15 minutes
Total time
15 hours, 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 lb Soldier Beans (soaked overnight)
4 oz Salt Pork (score the rind)
2 t dry mustard
2 t Ginger
1 t Salt
2 c Boiling Water
2 c Maple Syrup (Maine Dark or X-Dark, VT Grade B)
Instructions
  1. Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
  2. Drain the water and parboil them in fresh water for an hour or so until the skins peel back when you blow gently on them.
  3. While the beans cook, put the salt pork in the bottom of a beanpot.
  4. Preheat the oven to 300.
  5. Combine the mustard, salt, and ginger with a few drops of the syrup to make a paste, then add more and more syrup so it mixes well.
  6. Drain the beans again and put them in the beanpot.
  7. Add the spiced syrup mixture to the hot beans, and then enough water to just cover the beans.
  8. Cover the beanpot and put it in the oven. Bake for 2 hours, then check the water level. Add more boiling water if necessary.
  9. Continue to cook for a total of six hours, adding water every hour as needed. Don't worry too much about it. Half an hour before then end, remove the cover to let the liquid boil down a little.