Tuesday, October 23, 2012

50 States of MoFo: Massachusetts: Boston Baked Beans




Baked Beans are found in many forms.  The Boston sort, usually sweet, without tomatoes, and cooked with bacon or salt pork, are particularly famous.  There is a recipe for a vegan version of these beans which is scattered across the internet.  I cannot figure out where the recipe started, but you can find it here.  The Bakon Yeast is crucial for the proper flavor and I just might have used more than 1 teaspoon!  I bought mine in bulk at an Adventist store, but there appear to be a number online sources.  Should it prove impossible to find, you could use some nutritional yeast and a little liquid smoke. 

I soaked the beans overnight in the fridge and then drained and rinsed, instead of the quicker method in the recipe.  Also, I used about 5-6 cups of water for cooking, and I cooked the beans on low in a crockpot for 10 hours (really!). I overdid it with the water, but I wanted to eliminate any chance of it burning in the crockpot while I was at work.  There was too much liquid (first photo) at the end of 10 hours, so I poured everything into a pot and boiled it for a few minutes until the liquid reduced (second photo).

If I had more time, I would have made some Boston brown bread to go with the beans, but that is a project for another day!

3 comments:

moonsword said...

Oh I do miss the brown bread we used to get when I was a kid. I think it was called B&M date nut bread and it came in a can. We'd slice off thick slabs and top them with lots of cream cheese...the bread itself was sweet and superdense and full of date chunks. I think I first fell in love with dates because of this stuff! I'd love to see you do a recipe. :)

JohnP said...

moonsword, even though my grandmother lived in TN, she liked Boston Brown Bread and would make it in old cans. It's been on my mental list since my nostalgia mofo project last year. It'll definitely happen. Let me know if you beat me to it!

Bianca said...

Ooooh, these look so good! I haven't had baked beans in ages. And I've never heard of bakon yeast but is now on my wish list!