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Miss Hilda's Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried navy beans, picked over and soaked overnight in water to cover
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 pound salt pork, trimmed and cut into cubes
- 4 ounces chopped bacon
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300?F.
Drain the beans and put them in a pot with 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, the salt, and bay leaves. Add 8 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the beans are just tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain the beans and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid.
Heat the oil in a large ovenproof pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the salt pork and bacon and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add the ketchup, reserved cooking liquid, onions, celery, brown sugar, mustard, garlic, black pepper, and remaining
1 teaspoon cayenne. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the beans and stir gently to mix. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Transfer the beans to the oven and bake for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and serve hot. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Makes 6 to 8 servings