Bean Hole Beans
Some Bean-making Recollections
Roland and Flora
Boucher, Orono, Maine:
Bean-hole beans taste better than regular baked beans. You don't
have to continually add water, which dilutes the flavor.. I use the
recipe for baked beans in the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but “change it
a little.”
First dig a hole, then line it with bricks and rocks. Roland's bean
hole is about one and a half feet wide and knee deep (that's after
it's lined with rocks'). After it is full of coals and the bricks
are hot, you dig out the coals. Put the bean pot down in the hole,
cover it with the coals, then cover the coals with dirt. Tamp the
dirt down until no steam escapes. Check the hole about 45 minutes
later to be sure that no steam is escaping. If steam is escaping,
then you have to add more dirt. Let the beans cook for 12 hours.
Cover the beans in the pot with 2 inches of water. Roland uses a
cast iron pot that holds 5 pounds of beans. He makes bean hole beans
3-4 times per year. No special reason--”Just to have something to
eat!” He freezes any leftovers, but usually does not have any.
It is important to build the fire properly. You must heat the hole
from he bottom up. He starts the fire burning about 9 a.m. and
usually puts the beans in the hole around 8 p.m. and then takes the
beans out around 1 p.m. the next day. The beans are ready earlier--
it takes about 12 hours to cook them properly. He cooks 2 pots at a
time, that's about 9 pounds worth.
He eats hot dogs, coleslaw slaw and rolls (“yeast rolls are good,
but no one bakes them anymore so we have to use the rolls from the
store. But they aren't as good!”) with the beans.
Flora's great uncle makes wonderful bean hole beans. He used to cook
“in the woods.” He has his own secret recipe that he won't share,
except that he did teach Flora's brother how to make the beans.
Flora says “Roland's beans are good, but his [the great uncle's] are
great!” Roland agrees.
The brother salts his own pork. “That probably accounts for part of
the difference in flavor,” according to Roland. The Boucher's use
salt pork from the store. Flora says “My brother is fussy. He won't
buy just any beans. He only buys them from a farmer who grows them,
and they have to be last year's beans.” He always cooks for a good
crowd. Serves salads and biscuits with his beans.
To fix the beans, first soak the beans overnight. “DO NOT parboil
them. If you do you lose some of the flavor.” The type of bean makes
a difference. Pea beans--Flora likes these best, but Roland thinks
they aren't as good. Yellow-eye beans--Roland prefers these; They
stay firmer. Flora's brother only uses yellow beans. Roland makes
one pot of each type of bean to please everyone.
Ingredients: molasses, dark brown sugar, No onion (but the brother
does put in an onion), salt pork (The best part! best if cured in
brine. Some people use salt instead of brine to cure, but that's not
as good”), water (2 inches over the beans), beans, dry mustard,
pepper and salt. Roland likes to cut up a raw onion and add it to
his beans when he eats them. Neither Flora nor Roland use ketchup.
Both agree that brown bread is good with beans. Roland shares his
beans with his guys at work. Flora doesn't like the beans reheated,
“I do like a cold bean sandwich the next morning, though.”
The bean-hole pot is pot-bellied. It has 3 legs and a cover. It has
a wire bale on top. You lift it in and out of the hole with a pipe
that has a rod and hook on it. Two people can pick the pots up with
the pipe.
According to Roland “The secret of the beans is all in the
preparation--the seasonings used.”
Back to Bean Hole Beans
Recollections
