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Boston Baked Beans

A slow‑cooked bean dish with salt pork, black molasses, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Boston Baked Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak beans overnight.

  2. Parboil beans for about ten minutes.

  3. Drain beans and add three-fourths pounds of salt pork, two tablespoons of black molasses, and one teaspoon salt.

Bake and finish

  1. Put mixture in a bean pot and cover with the cooking water.

  2. Bake in a slow oven for several hours, adding water as needed.

  3. When done, remove cover and brown the beans.

By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Beans
Form the bulk of the dish; their starch softens during slow baking into a creamy texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that slowly melts into the beans during baking.
Black molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep, rich flavor as the beans bake.

The step that matters

Adding water during the slow bake. Beans that dry out can scorch and stay firm. Adding water as needed keeps them covered in liquid so the starch can fully soften over the long, gentle bake.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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