Baked Beans

I remember as a child going to the market with grandma to get a big piece of salt pork for her baked beans. "That's what gives it the flavor," she'd say. I thought how wonderful, I can't wait to have some of her delicious baked beans and big piece of salt pork. Imagine my surprise when I saw her taking out the big pieces of salt pork before serving the beans! It took some time before I realized that the big pieces of pork fat gave up their taste to the beans and were not good by themselves. I wish I could say I learned that without tasting the salt pork one time just to be sure, but that unfortunately is not the case.

Soak one and one half pints of beans overnight and parboil in the morning with salted water. Put in bean pot with one half pound of salt pork on top along with two tablespoonfuls each of brown sugar and molasses. Add just enough hot water to cover beans. Bake all day in a moderate oven.