Bean Pot & Supper Review

I recently made some New England Baked Beans and was wishing for an old-fashioned bean pot.  I made do with a cast iron pan, but decided to take the plunge and buy a bean pot.  I did a lot of research and settled on the  R & M International 4.5 Quart Large Ceramic Bean Pot from Amazon.  I wanted a large pot, and this one fit in my budget.  I LOVE my bean pot!  The beans cooked beautifully, and the handles make it easy to get in and out of the oven.  There are some complaints about the lid handle being hard or impossible to use to get the lid off, but I just used a pot holder and was careful and didn't have any problems.  I highly recommend this pot! Here is the link:  4.5 Qt Bean Pot.

 My first attempt at some classic New England style baked beans were okay, but not overly impressive.  I did a lot of research and found that there are a myriad of variations to the classic recipe, so I ended up creating my own.  

Baked Beans

1 lb dried navy beans

¼ to ½ pound salt pork

1 small onion, sliced

⅓ cup molasses

1 T brown sugar

1 T mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Make sure you get a piece of salt pork with as much meat on it as possible.  Soak beans overnight.  Place in a large pot with plenty of water to cover.  Add the rind of the salt pork and cook until the skins burst.   Slice the onion and roughly chop the salt pork.

 

Put a layer of onions on the bottom of the pot, followed by half of the salt pork and then half of the beans.

 

  

Repeat.  Drain the beans reserving the liquid.  In a cup of the liquid, whisk together the molasses, brown sugar, mustard, salt & pepper.

 

  

Pour over the beans, then add more cooking liquid until you can see liquid through the beans.

Bake at 250 for four to six hours. Taste after three or four hours and adjust seasonings at that point.

I actually added a little too much water to mine.  If I had cooked them awhile longer, I think they would have gotten thicker like my husband prefers, but they were still wonderful!

 Of course, the traditional accompaniment to baked beans is Boston Brown Bread.  This was my first ever attempt at this steamed bread, but I scoured the internet for a recipe.  Now, personally, I think you should be able to improvise as the need arises.  I was fresh out of straight cornmeal, so I substituted semolina flour.  I also didn't have a metal coffee can to steam it in, so I used a small metal bowl instead. 

After mixing up the ingredients, I poured them in the metal bowl and tied the foil on tight before starting the steaming process.   I'm very happy how it turned out!  You can find this recipe at http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/boston_brown_bread.

 

I wasn't sure what my kids would think of this meal (the first time I made baked beans it was a mixed review, and the Indian Pudding wasn't a favorite either), but it was unanimously declared a hit.

I love my bean pot and will be using it--and the above recipes--again and again.

I was not paid in any way for this review.  I simply wanted to share my experience with this bean pot and my recipe.  Hope you enjoyed it!