A Bacon Bean Bonanza

Some of our readers may be saying to themselves, “I heard of this wonderful salt bacon, where ever did it go,” or, more likely, “Did it just turn out so awful that you tearfully flung it into the sea and vowed never to speak of it again?” Luckily for all this was not the case.

After a week of careful draining, patting and the addition of more salt cure as needed, the bacon was pronounced ready for consumption. We were initially worried that, for lack of potassium nitrate, the meat would take on a unappetizing grey color. This did not really turn out to be the case, while the exterior had lost some of the pink verve it had when we first purchased it it still looked rather healthy, and the thick slices fried up with a very satisfying panoply of crimson strips.

The taste was chewier, meatier than regular bacon, almost like a flavored pork steak, comparable only to the  best canadian bacons. The one trouble we found was that it was slightly too salty to be eaten with any regularity. We hypothesized that this was due to the length of the cure, and next time might try salting the pork bellies for only three days instead of five, or simply using another method of curing, like brining or cold smoking. 

This slight discouragement only momentarily marred our first attempt at bacon, for Andrew Maki quickly came up with a dish that would make the salty nature of our bacon into a virtue, Boston Baked Beans.

Note: we used dried beans. Even though it takes some time to prep them for cooking, they are not only cheaper but also better tasting then their bean sludge encased brethren. Also, we didn’t add any salt as our bacon was salty enough for our purposes but salt could be added to taste if one was using a different cut. 

Ingredients:
400g/14oz piece pork belly 
500g/1lb 2oz white haricot beans, dried

500g/cannellini beans
50g/2oz soft brown sugar
45g/3 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp English mustard (made from powder)
4 cloves
8-10 pickling onions (or 2-3 small onions)
fresh ground black pepper

Method:

1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of fresh cold water. 
2. Drain and rinse, then put in a heavy, ovenproof pan or casserole, with fresh water to cover the beans by about 5cm/2in. Bring to the boil and boil hard for at least 10 minutes. Lower the heat to get a gentle simmer, cover with the pan lid, and simmer for about one hour until the beans are tender but not completely soft. Remove from the heat.
3. Cut the pork belly in large 5cm/2in cubes, leaving the rind on and add to the beans. Stir in the brown sugar, molasses and mustard. 
4. Press each clove into an onion and add, with the extra onions, to the pot. Season with pepper, but no salt. If necessary, add a little hot water so that the beans are covered.
5. Replace the lid on the casserole. Bake the beans in a preheated slow oven at 140C/275F/Gas 1 for about 3 hours. Then remove the lid and dragging some of the pork chunks to the top. Return, uncovered, to the oven, for a further hour. Season.
6. Serve on it’s own, with crusty bread (or on toast), as a snack or light meal. 

In a sealed jar or tupperware container, these baked beans will keep in the fridge for two weeks.

 

This recipe came as a special providence as we were cooking in Boston, it was cold enough to need something that stuck to the ribs, and the use of homemade bacon made it particularly succulent. We ate till we could eat no more and then it remained on a low heat on the stove. I for one would leave the kitchen for a few hours, make every attempt to appear engaged in conversation, yet all the while I was plotting when it would be both safe and wise to return and hastily gobble another spoonful, I was caught but once. 

(Note the Recipe, slightly modified,  comes from The River Cottage Meat Book, available at Amazon.com, by way of Rosewood Farms)