Chef John's Boston Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry navy beans
- 6 cups water
- 1 pinch baking soda
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 strips bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- ⅓ cup molasses
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
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Instructions
- Place navy beans in a large bowl and cover with several inches cool water; let soak overnight.
- Drain beans; place in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot with 6 cups water, baking soda, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and boil for 10 minutes. Drain; save bean-cooking liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
- Place beans in a clean Dutch oven; add bacon, onion, molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, salt, and black pepper. Pour in enough hot reserved bean-cooking liquid to cover beans; stir.
- Cover Dutch oven; bake in the preheated oven 1 hour. Check liquid level; add more reserved bean-cooking liquid to cover beans. Return to oven; continue baking until beans tender and almost all liquid absorbed, about 1 hour.
- Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Uncover beans; continue baking until top develops a flavorful crust, 20 to 30 minutes more.
Source
Original recipe: View Original