We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Molasses is the key ingredient that makes ordinary baked beans into Boston Baked Beans. The sugar and calcium in molasses helps keep the beans firm. Boston was a major trading port with the Caribbean, where sugar cane would grow (molasses being a byproduct of sugar cane processing). In 1919, a vat of molasses exploded in Boston, killing and injuring dozens of people and horses. I read a blog post where the writer lived in Boston in the 1980s, and on hot summer days, one part of the city still smelled like molasses!
For thousands of years, Algonquin tribes in New England relied on baked beans and corn bread as a dietary staple. This diet became essential for survival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony. Over time, the original Algonquin recipes, which used maple syrup, developed into the classic Boston Baked Bean recipe that uses molasses and salt pork.
The early Pilgrims and Puritans of Massachusetts strictly observed the Sabbath, which prohibited work or even cooking on Sundays. In order to follow this rule, they would bake beans in a covered bean pot on Saturdays, and leave it in a hot brick oven overnight. On Sundays, the baked beans would still be hot and enjoyed for dinner. By the eighteenth century, baked beans and brown bread had been well established as a Sunday meal throughout eastern Massachusetts, and this tradition lasted into the 1940s, leading to Boston being known as Beantown, USA.
To make this recipe vegetarian, omit the bacon and add one or two slices of vegetarian ham. To make it vegan, go one step further and eliminate the Worcestershire sauce as well. I don’t like my beans too sweet, so you can dial down the brown sugar as you like. Alternatively, you can pile all the ingredients into a slow cooker instead of a pot in step 4, and cook on low for 8 hours.
- 2 cups navy beans
- ½ pound bacon or salt pork
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- ½ tsp mustard
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- Soak beans overnight in cold water.
- Simmer the beans in fresh water until tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours. Drain and reserve the liquid.
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Stir the beans, bacon, onion, and garlic in a 2 quart bean pot or casserole dish.
- In a small saucepan, combine salt, pepper, mustard, tomato, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, molasses and brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and pour over the beans. Pour in just enough bean water to cover the beans. Cover the dish with a lid or aluminium foil.
- Bake for 2 to 3 hours, until beans are tender. Remove the lid halfway through cooking, adding more liquid if necessary to prevent the beans from becoming too dry.
- Serve with corn bread or Boston brown bread.
and Kate did the beautiful bowl