Issues → March/April 2008 → Food → Eating New Englandy →
17. Boston-Style Baked Beans
Maine Made Products Center
461 Commercial St.Rockport, ME
800-762-8895; cheese-me.com
Durgin-Park uses small pea or navy beans, seasoned with salt pork, molasses, and mustard (see the recipe below), slow-cooked, while State of Maine brand uses soldier or Jacob's cattle beans, seasoned similarly (but often without the pork).
Boston-Style Baked Beans
Beans Recipes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Start to Finish Time: 6 hours
Yield: 6–8 servings
Adapted from Durgin-Park recipe
- 1 pound (2 cups) dried navy beans
- 1/2 pound salt pork, divided
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup dark molasses
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
Soak beans overnight in cold water. When you're ready to cook, place beans in a heavy saucepan, and fill with water to 1/2 inch above them. Boil 25 to 30 minutes, until beans are tender; don't overcook. (Place a bean between thumb and forefinger and pinch; the outer shell should slip off.) Drain and rinse, reserving the liquid.
Heat oven to 400°. Place half the salt pork in the bottom of a large ovenproof pot. Add beans, sugar, molasses, dry mustard, white pepper, salt, and reserved liquid. Top with remaining salt pork. Bake 4 to 4-1/2 hours. Let beans rest 30 minutes before serving.
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Reader Comments
Comment from Carl Christiansen on March 4, 2008
I think your receipe for beans above has some errors, I tried it just as written and ended up wioth hard dry beans. Every other time I have made these the ov en temp has been lower and always covered. But felt I needed to try this method, my family vetoed it as they placed beans in the garbage.
Comment from Brian Wagner on April 9, 2008
Shouldn't this recipe be presented with a recipe for brown bread?
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