Text 11853, 121 rader
Skriven 2007-02-15 16:09:26 av Ian Hoare
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: Re: Boston Baked Beans
==============================
Hi again Dave, 

 le/on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:26:10 -0500, tu disais/you said:-

>I'm glad that the beans have finally cooked; sorry about not seeing
>your message earlier. 

No problems.... I thought it worthwhile sending it partly to allow others
who may not have been around at the time to see your excellent recipe.

>Have you my email address?

Not that one!! I have one a ntplx and one to do with freebies at yahoo. If
you remember, back in 2004 I was trying to get in touch with you and we
found that wanadoo.fr was so lax about it's security that many ISPs were
filtering all such addresses. As I recall, we found that yahoo was more
lenient. But I wasn't that bothered. After writing it, I decided that
turning up the temperature wouls surely get me there one way or another!!

>That recipe you have seems to be an earlier version.

Aha!!! I've seen the skin curling tip on one or two recipes. Thanks. The 10
minute full boil makes quite sure that the toxins are destroyed, which makes
sense. 

>FWIW, I've had the exact thing happen to me, too.  One possible
>cause is that the beans were sitting in the pantry too long and
>were "stale" but knowing you, I should doubt that was the case. [g]

I'm afraid to say that's almost exactly what happened. Navy beans aren't
common currency here and as it happens I know exactly where I got these. Do
you remember me mentioning the story of sending the Cajun 15 bean soup
recipe to someone who turned out to be the copyright holder? That was in
2004 when we came a-visiting. Well to show he had no ill feeling he sent me
a huge batch of beans, including said Navys. 

>I think I mis-typed that earlier recipe - 15 g is a lot of ginger
>and mustard. 

Yup, a heck of a lot. 

>I reckon the recipe would be better with approximately half that each.

WAY less. I haven't weighed a tbs, but I used about 1/2 one of my spice jars
to give a full 15 gms. 

> I use a tablespoon of each, and I bet what happened is that I unthinkingly
converted our "tablespoon" measurement (15 ml)
>as I was typing it in for you. 

D'you know, that's what Jacquie & I worked out what happened, eventually.
You may have converted using MMs (or NYC's) unit conversion would have
converted tbs to mls (they shouldn't of course) and to go from 15 mls to 15
gms "knowing" I tend to weigh solids is an easy step.

For what it's worth, this is what I'll be doing next time.

I've corrected the quantities of spices and further reduced the maple syrup.
While the beans were excellent (apart from the ginger/mustard) they were
still slightly over balanced towards sweetness for my effete European taste.
I've also changed the method to take into account the preliminary boiling
and put in a slightly higher oven temperature - as well as allow for some
final seasoning.

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Boston Baked Beans

american, casseroles, pork, beans

500 gm beans
1 large spanish onion
250 gm streaky salt pork
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1 pinch cayenne
50 ml black treacle or molasses
150 ml maple syrup
  Salt

Start with the beans - the smallest ones you can find. In the US, we'd
call them "Small white beans" or Navy beans (which are a bit bigger but
will do.) Soak them overnight, or use the faster method of boiling them
rapidly for one minute and soaking them for an hour.

When soaked, drain and rinse, and then put them into a pan well covered
with water. Bring to the boil and boil quite fast for about 10 minutes. The
beans are ready for baking when you take some out of the boil on a slotted
spoon and blow on them, the skins split and curl back.

Meanwhile: Coarsely chop the onion into the bottom of the beanpot or crock.
Top it with a chunk of salt pork (we use a fatty sort of salt pork that is
much more similar to streaky bacon than you might use, but lots of lean is
just fine). Then add powdered ginger, good English mustard powder, and
cayenne.

Drain the beans and add them to the crock without stirring. Pour in black
treacle or molasses and maple syrup. Then pour in just enough boiling water
to bring the level of liquid a centimetre or so above the beans.

Cover the crock and bake in a very slow (perhaps 120°C) oven for at least
eight hours, and as long as 12 or more hours. Here is where the design of a
beanpot has it over the crock: A beanpot has a narrow mouth and wide
shoulders, and restricts the evaporation of liquid from the inside. If
you're using a crock, you may have to check the beans every hour or two and
add water to keep them from drying out. With the beanpot, I only have to
check the liquid once or twice. When the beans are nearly tender enough,
check seasoning and  if needed, be ready to add a little salt.

From : Dave Sacerdote

Yield: 5 servings

** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.77 **
-- 
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website
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