Boston Baked Beans

I love baked beans. They're so yummy. Plus I have fond memories of my mom and grandmother making them and making the kitchen smell SO good. Plus my mother in law made them for me quite often when they lived up here. I already have a baked bean recipe but it's for the crock pot. So this one is in the oven all day. Steve suggested digging a hole and waiting 2 days but obviously he is ridiculous. This recipe is from one of the birthday cookbooks from Becky, The New Family Cookbook.

Boston Baked Beans
1 2/3 cup dried navy beans
1 bay leaf
8 oz salt pork
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp ketchup
2 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock (I used beef broth because it's all that I had)
salt and pepper

Rinse the beans, cover with cold water and leave overnight to soak. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans, cover with cold water, and simmer with the bay leaf for about an hour. Drain and place in deep oven-proof dish.

Cut the salt pork into fork-sized cubes and add to the beans with the onion. Mix the remaining ingredients and add to the dish. Add a little more broth or water if necessary to cover. Put on the lid and cook at 300 for 6-7 hours. Check from time to time while it is cooking, adding more liquid if necessary. Uncover the pot for the last 40 minutes to let the top brown.

These smelled SO SO good. Love that smell. Yankee Candle should make a candle of it. I should totally be a Yankee Candle consultant because I have lots of great ideas. Also the beans taste fabulous. It is only 3:25 but they are done. I tried some. So so good. The beans are the perfect texture, you know how sometimes they get mushy if they are overcooked or something? Maybe in 2 hours when we eat these for a meal that will be an issue, but right now they taste great! Hooray, I love when it turns out well. Especially since half of these beans are going to a family for a meal tonight...Steve thought it was risky to bring baked beans to a family for a meal, because they might not like them. So, I texted my friend and I was all "do you like baked beans? Because I can easily make something else if you don't, just be honest." And she said they would happily eat anything I brought. I took that as a yes. Ha ha. If someone wanted to bring me something with mayonaisse and they called and asked me first I would be honest and say "please don't bring that to me." So hopefully they will like them.

I wasn't sure how to categorize this recipe, but decided on meatless, because if you leave out the salt pork, it will be. Also it is dairy-free, so there you go.