Baked Beans and Cornbread

1 January 2011

We remember that in Rome, lentils and coinlike discs of sausage meant prosperity on New Year's Day. Well, baked beans and ingots of golden cornbread is close enough for the New World.

This is another beloved dish from Barbara's childhood in New York. Going to Horn & Hardart's was a great treat: you could feed nickels into a slot and, holding your breath, pull up the brass-lined glass door to get your sandwich (and they were quite fresh - I once saw a hand placing a sandwich into the slot), or get thick hot chocolate that spurted from golden lionhead spouts. The baked beans were the best, with the unmistakeable smell of what I now know to be molasses.

Here's what claims to be the recipe, found on the intertubes.

Horn & Hardart's Baked Beans


1 pound (2 cups) great Northern or navy beans, soaked at least 8 hours


1 cup finely minced onion (1 medium onion)
- but see below

4 slices bacon, diced
 - again, see below

2 tablespoons sugar


2 teaspoons dry mustard


1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper


2/3 cup molasses


2 tablespoons cider vinegar


1 1/2 cups tomato juice


1 cup water


1 teaspoon salt



Drain the beans and place them in a large saucepan, or (in our case) the Canadian Tire slow-cooker. Add fresh water to cover the beans by about an inch. On the range, bring to a boil, then adjust heat so the beans simmer gently, uncovered for an hour; or in the slow-cooker, give them two hours on high. Make sure they're always covered with water. When they're tender but not falling apart, drain. 



Place the beans in a 3-quart bean pot, casserole, or just back into the slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring well after each.

Slow-cook on low or bake, covered, in a preheated 300 degree oven for about 6 hours, or until the beans are tender again and colored as brown as the sauce around them. If there's too much liquid, leave the pot open for the last hour. Stir the beans at least once an hour while they cook, if it takes you that way. Makes about 7 cups, enough for two dinners, especially with Holt's Christmas cornbread warmed on the side.

The intertubes recipe was pretty close to the original, but not spot-on. The onions still tasted raw and were too strong for the dish, while even minced bacon is too evident and separable. Next time we'll give the bacon a whirl in the food processor, and then sauté it and the minced onions until transparent.