Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [73]
After she died, I inherited my grandmother’s bean pot, as well as the Poppytrail china and her bulging recipe file. During a fit of nostalgia a few years ago, I pulled out her famous recipe for beans. I sighed. Here it is verbatim: “Wiener Bean Pot: 2 1 lb. cans pork & beans, 1 envelope dry onion soup mix, ⅓ c catsup, ¼ cup water, 2T brown sugar, 1 T mustard, 10 frankfurters (sliced).”
I can’t empty a packet of onion soup mix into a recipe (with one exception) without cringing, just as I can’t say, “Mark, would you like another bean?” or speak the words “wiener bean pot” without a disrespectful smirk. I’ve used the bean pot constantly over the years since my grandmother’s death, but I use my own recipe. There’s nothing wrong with canned beans, but they don’t have as much personality as these do.
By the way, you need to eat the jelly-like salt pork, skin and all. Like cream, it melts on your tongue.
Make it or buy it? Make it.
Hassle: Harder than stabbing open a can
Cost comparison: Homemade: $0.92 per cup. Van Camp’s: $0.86 per cup. Bush’s: $1.65.
1 pound dried navy beans
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil
½ pound salt pork, cut into 1½-inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 apple, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1. Soak the beans overnight in water to cover.
2. Drain the beans. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
3. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven and brown the salt pork. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. (You can use a bean pot to make this, but it generates fewer dishes to use the Dutch oven in which you fry the pork.)
4. To the fried pork, add the beans and all the other ingredients. Stir well and add 6 cups of water.
5. Bake for 3 to 4 hours, replenishing water as necessary. Midway through the cooking, taste for salt and adjust. When they’re done, the beans should be very soft, but not falling apart. Serve immediately or cool and store for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Makes 2½ quarts beans, to serve 10
CANADIAN BACON
Canadian bacon isn’t actually Canadian; it’s what the British call “back bacon,” and it consists of lean pork, brined and smoked. Store-bought Canadian bacon is watery and flabby and typically cut too thin. If I’d known how to smoke my own Canadian bacon at the time, I would have lasted a lot longer on the South Beach Diet. This recipe makes a sweet, substantial bacon that is a lovely seashell pink.
Make it or buy it? Make it.
Hassle: It’s a whale of a hassle when your house burns down, so heed warnings about smoking.
Cost comparison: Homemade Canadian bacon: $4.00 per pound. Supermarket Canadian bacon such as Land o’ Frost: $10.00. Jones Canadian bacon: $13.00.
1½ cups kosher salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
8 teaspoons pink salt (see Appendix)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
One 4-pound pork loin
1. Combine the kosher salt, sugar, pink salt, and 1 gallon water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla and chill overnight.
2. Place the pork in the cold brine and weight it down with a plate to keep it submerged. Let rest in the refrigerator for 2 days.
3. Remove the loin from the brine, rinse well, and pat dry. Place on a rack in the refrigerator to air-dry for 24 hours.
4. An hour before you plan to smoke the pork, take it out of the refrigerator to bring to room temperature.
5. Smoke the pork until it registers 150 degrees F when tested in its thickest part with an instant-read thermometer. (for smoking details.)