BOSTON BAKED BEANS

2 cups dried beans
1 1/2 quarts of cold water
1 (1/4-pound) piece of salt pork
4 tablespoons molasses*
1 to 2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard, if desired

To bake beans rich and brown in the Boston style, long slow cooking is necessary.

Soak beans overnight in 1 1/2 quarts of cold water. In the morning simmer for minutes, or until the beans begin to soften.

Score salt pork and put half of the pork in the bottom of the bean pot. Add the beans and bury the other half of the pork in the top portion of the beans, with only- the scored rind exposed.

Mix molasses, salt, and mustard if desired, with a little hot water. Pour over the beans. Cover with hot water.

Put a lid on the pot and bake in a slow oven for 6 or 7 hours. Add a little hot water from time to time. During the last hour of baking remove the lid to let the beans and pork brown on top.

*Some New Englanders use maple syrup or maple sugar in place of the molasses to sweeten their baked beans.

For Variety in Flavor:
Place a peeled onion in the bottom of the bean pot, or add the onion plus tomato catsup

From: Recipelink.com
Source: Recipe pamphlet: Dried Peas and Peas in Wartime Meals, USDA, AWI-47, June 1943