Margaret Lefevers Wonderful Baked Beans Recipes

OLD FASHIONED BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Soak beans overnight, well covered with cold water.
• Pour off soaking water and pick over beans to remove any bad ones, or debris.
• Put beans in a pot.
• Cover with fresh cold water and add 1 tsp. baking soda.
• Bring to a boil and cook until skins of beans crack when you take one out on a spoon and blow on it.
• Cut onion in quarters and put in bottom of a bean crock or large casserole.
• Add the partially cooked beans.
• Put cut up salt pork on top.
• (Some people use the salt pork fat. I don't like fat, so I prefer to use the salt pork meat.) Combine brown sugar, molasses, mustard and salt with 1 1/2 cups boiling water.
• Pour over the beans.
• Add more boiling water, if needed, to come just to the top of the beans.
• Also, if needed during baking tme, add more boiling water.
• Bake, covered, at 300 degrees F for 6 hours, or until beans are tender.

OLD FASHIONED FRENCH CANADIAN BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Cover beans with water and soak overnight.
• Rinse beans then bring to a boil in approximately 1 quart of water, bay leaf and garlic - simmer for 30 minutes.
• Turn off heat and let beans stand for approximately 1 1/2 hours until soft. Drain and reserve the bean liquid. Discard bay leaf and garlic.
• Mix together remaining ingredients (excluding beans and bacon).
• Add beans to bean pot (or any covered dish).
• Stir in molasses mixture to beans. Top off with some of the reserved bean liquid.
• Arrange bacon on top.
• Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 7 hours. For the final hour of cooking, remove cover to let bean brown up nicely.
• Note: check occasionally and keep beans covered with reserved bean liquid during cooking.