BOSTON BAKED BEANS IN BEAN POT - DURGIN-PARK

Steps:

• NOTE: Use navy beans, California pea beans, or small white beans.
• Soak beans overnight.
• In the morning, preheat oven to 325°F Place the baking soda in a Dutch oven and fill half way with water.
• Bring to a boil, add the beans & boil for 10 minutes.
• Drain beans in a colander and run cold water through them. Set aside.
• Dice the salt pork (available in the bacon section of the grocery store)into 1-inch squares.
• Put half of the salt pork on the bottom of the bean pot, along with the onion.
• Put beans in the pot.
• Put the remaining salt pork on top of the beans.
• Mix the sugar, molasses, mustard, salt and pepper with 3 cups of hot water and pour over the beans.
• Cover pot with lid and place the pot into the preheated oven.
• Bake for 6 hours.
• Check pot periodically to make sure the amount of liquid is okay.
• Add water to the beans slowly as needed to keep them moist; DO NOT FLOOD THEM. Just "top them up".
• Remove the pot from the oven and serve.
• NOTE: The Durgin-Park, a Boston restaurant whose origins date back to the American Revolution, is famous for its Boston baked beans, baked Indian pudding and apple pan dowdy. Durgin-Park cook Tommy Ryan has prepared this recipe at the restaurant for the past 37 years.
• Durgin-Park serves 1,000 diners on an average Saturday evening. The waitresses have a reputation for their long memories: the second time you come in, you get the same thing you ordered the first time--unless you speak fast.