Beanhole Beans - Grandparents.com

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Molly O'Neill is our Food Editor. She is the former food columnist for The New York Times Magazine. O'Neill is the author of three cookbooks, including the best-selling New York Cookbook (Workman Publishing, 1992), A Well Seasoned Appetite (Penguin, 1997), and The Pleasure of Your Company (Viking, 1997). She was the host of the PBS series Great Food, and edited the critically acclaimed anthology American Food Writing (Library of America, 2007). Her latest work, Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball (Scribner, 2006), recounts her childhood of growing up in a Major-League baseball family.

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by Molly O'Neill

This classic New England recipe is adapted from former State Rep. Sherman Hutchins of Maine. Slow-cooked beans are ideal for campfire cooking in a good, cast-iron pot.

Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus 45 minutes for soaking

Cooking time: 3 1/2 hours

1 pound dried white beans
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large white onion, peeled and cut in half
1 pound pork fatback

1. Put beans in a large bowl, cover with cold water and let soak 45 minutes. Drain.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

3. In a large, heavy casserole or cast-iron pot, combine beans, mustard, molasses, sugar, salt and pepper. Put onion halves, cut side down, on top of beans. Using a sharp knife, slice fatback nearly to the rind, like an accordion: horizontally every 1/2 inch for the length of the fat. Put pork on top of onion.

4. Add cold water to cover mixture by one inch. Cover pot and put in oven for 3 1/2 hours, until beans are tender.

Serves 6.