Pork And Beans, Or Boston Baked Beans, No. I

Much of the excellence of this dish depends upon the kind of bean-pot used. It should be of earthenware, with a narrow mouth and bulging sides. Soak a quart of pea beans in cold water over night; in the morning place them in fresh water, and simmer gently until soft enough to pierce with a pin, being careful that they do not boil long enough to break. If desired, a small onion may be boiled with the beans. When they are soft, turn them into a colander, pour cold water through them, and place them, when well drained, in the bean-pot. Pour boiling water over a-quarter of a pound of salt pork that is part fat and part lean. Scrape the rind until white, cut it in half-inch strips, and bury the meat in the beans, leaving only the rind exposed. Mix together a tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of dry mustard and a-fourth of a cupful of molasses. Place these in a cup, fill the cup with hot water, stir until well mixed, and pour the liquid over the beans and pork. Add enough water to cover the beans, and bake eight hours, adding water to keep them covered, until the last hour, when the pork should be raised to the surface to crisp.

If pork is disliked, it may be omitted ; more salt must then be used, together with a third of a cupful of butter; or half a pound of fat and lean corned beef may be substituted.

Boston Baked Beans, No. 2

This recipe has been used most successfully for many years, and the work is quickly done.

Do not soak the beans over night. Place a quart of pea beans over the fire, cover them with cold water, and slowly bring the water to a boil; then set the kettle where the beans will just bubble, but. will at no time boil hard. When they have cooked in this way for fifteen minutes, add a four-inch square of salt pork to the kettle, and simmer gently with the beans until they may be pierced with a pin, but are not at all broken ; then turn the beans into a colander to drain. Place together in a coffee-cup two large table-spoonfuls of molasses, a tea-spoonful of salt and a-fourth of a tea-spoonful of pepper, and fill the cup with some of the hot water in which the beans were boiled. Place the beans in the bean-pot, turn over them the cupful of seasoning, and stir well until thoroughly mixed. Cut the rind of the pork in small squares, sink the meat in the beans, leaving only the rind exposed; add more bean water until the rind is covered, and bake two hours, raising the pork during the last three-quarters of an hour, to brown and crisp the top. More baking may be allowed if there is time for it before serving ; but excellent baked beans have for many years been prepared in this way in the writer's household, and never with more than two hours' baking.