Traditional Bean Hole Beans

Every Old Home Day in Maine/NH will have their version of these Bean Hole Beans...absolutely none better!

19 hours 9 hrs prep

2 lbs of yellow eye beans (Navy or Great Northern beans)

Mix: 1 teaspoon dry mustard or prepared mustard 1/2 cup molasses 1/2-1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water 1 large onion, cut in half 1 lb salt pork (sliced) boiling water, enough to cover

1. Soak 2 pounds of beans overnight. 2. Parboil beans until the skin peels away by blowing on a few beans in a spoon. 3. Add the mix to the beans and stir slightly. 4. Slice 1 pound salt pork into sections. 5. Cut each section partly through in a criss-cross pattern and place pieces on top of the beans. 6. Cover the beans and set to one side. 7. The bean hole should be dug into the ground and be half again as large as your dutch oven or any other tightly lidded pot. 8. Using seasoned hard wood, accumulate live coals until hole is 3/4 full. 9. Shovel out the coals leaving about 3 inches of live coals in the bottom of the hole. 10. Set the bean pot in the hole on top of the 3 inch bed of coals. 11. Shovel the rest of the coals around and on top of the pot. 12. Cover with dirt and check for escaping steam and making sure none is leaking out. 13. If steam is leaking out, cover area with more dirt. 14. Leave in the ground for 8 hours or overnight. 15. Note: Make sure the beans are completely covered with hot water before putting in ground. 16. The beans need to go into the ground hot.

Bean-Hole Baked Beans Yield: Serves 6 to 8.

Contributed by:

 * Catsrecipes Y-Group