Boston Baked Beans

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried navy beans
• 6 oz salt pork
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 4 cups boiling water, approximately

Before you cook

• Sort the beans and discard any stones.
• Cover the beans with cold water by three inches and soak them overnight.
• Drain the beans and rinse them.
• Score the salt pork rind in a criss-cross pattern without cutting all the way through.
• Peel the onion and leave it whole.
• Whisk the molasses, brown sugar, mustard powder, salt and pepper together in a jug.

Steps

1. Put the drained beans in a saucepan, cover them with fresh water by two inches, and bring them to a boil.
2. Simmer the beans for 25 minutes, until the skins split when you blow on a spoonful.
3. Drain the beans and save 2 cups of their cooking liquid.
4. Heat the oven to 300F.
5. Set the whole onion in the bottom of a bean pot or a deep casserole dish.
6. Tip the beans in over the onion.
7. Push the salt pork down into the middle of the beans, leaving the rind showing at the surface.
8. Stir the reserved bean liquid into the molasses mixture and pour it over the beans.
9. Add enough boiling water to cover the beans by half an inch.
10. Cover the pot and slide it into the oven.
11. Bake the beans for 5 hours, checking every hour and adding boiling water whenever the surface looks dry.
12. Uncover the pot for the last hour so the top beans caramelise and the sauce reduces to a dark syrup.
13. Take the pot out and stir in the cider vinegar.
14. Let the beans stand for 15 minutes, then taste for salt before serving.