Old Fashioned Nova Scotian Baked Beans
Submitted by laurie@recipeland
Old-fashioned Nova Scotian baked beans: dried beans slow-baked for hours with salt pork, onion, molasses, and mustard into deep, sweet-savory comfort. The real Maritime tradition, from scratch.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
12 hrsCOOK
6 hrsREADY
18 hrsThis is the real thing, the slow-baked molasses beans that have anchored Nova Scotian Saturday-night suppers for generations. Forget the can: starting with dried white beans and a long, patient bake is what gives these their deep flavor and tender, almost creamy texture.
There’s old-kitchen wisdom built into the method. After an overnight soak, the beans get par-cooked with a pinch of baking soda, which softens their skins, and you know they’re ready when a skin splits as you blow on a bean lifted from the pot. Then they layer into a crock over onion, with salt pork or bacon on top to melt down into richness.
The soul of the dish is the molasses, with brown sugar and mustard rounding it into a sweet-savory sauce. From there it’s all about time: a low, slow bake of several hours, topped up with boiling water now and then, until the beans turn tender and dark.
Kitchen Tips
- The skin-crack test, a skin splits when you blow on a bean, tells you the beans are par-cooked and ready to bake.
- Top up with boiling water during baking, not cold, so the cooking never stalls and the top beans don’t dry out.
- Use salt pork for the most traditional flavor, and don’t rush the long bake; that’s where the deep color and taste come from.
Variations
- Stir in a splash more molasses or a spoonful of ketchup for a sweeter, saucier pot.
- Swap the salt pork for bacon, or add a bay leaf and a dash of pepper for extra depth.
Ingredients
Directions
Soak beans overnight, well covered with cold water.
Pour off soaking water and pick over beans to remove any bad ones, or debris.
Put beans in a pot.
Cover with fresh cold water and add 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Bring to a boil and cook until skins of beans crack when you take one out on a spoon and blow on it.
Cut onion in quarters and put in bottom of a bean crock or large casserole.
Add the partially cooked beans.
Put cut up salt pork or bacon on top.
Combine brown sugar, molasses, mustard and salt with 1½ cups boiling water.
Pour over the beans.
Add more boiling water, if needed, to come just to the top of the beans.
Add more boiling water as needed during baking time (after 2 & 4 hours add until its to the top of beans again)
Bake, covered, at 300℉ (150℃) for 6 hours, or until beans are tender.
Comments
Looks yummy, and the recipe sounds so easy too!