(Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, Refined Sugar Free)
This is an authentic Bean Hole Recipe. If you don’t feel like digging that huge hole in your backyard (your neighbors might be coming over if you do), just check out this slow cooker bean recipe.
We’ve found that maple syrup is the best sweetener for an authentic Maine flavor direction (Caryl and I used to tap our own trees in the bush while we lived there).
Bean Hole Baked Beans
(Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, Refined Sugar Free)
We’ve found that maple syrup is the best sweetener for an authentic Maine flavor direction (Caryl and I used to tap our own trees in the bush while we lived there).
- 5 pounds of Great Northern beans
- 3 lbs fatty ground beef or 3 lbs stew beef with 2 sticks of butter
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons dry mustard powder
- 4 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoons pepper
- 3 onions (diced)
- Water as necessary
Two days before:
- Boil the beans for 1 hour, then set to soak overnight.
The day before:
- Start the fire in a hole about 3 feet deep and about 1 1/2 feet wide that is lined with rocks. Use wood 2-3 inches in diameter to start producing coals. Maintain the fire throughout the day to accumulate about 8-10 inches of coals.
The day of:
- While maintaining the fire, add the ingredients to the soaked beans. Pour the bean mixture into a large dutch oven, cover, and put the dutch oven on the coals. Heap the coals over the lid and around the dutch oven and shovel dirt over the whole thing.
- Leave to cook for 8-10 hours.
- Uncover and serve.
This must be a western adaptation of traditional Maine baked beans. We always used Jacob’s Cattle or Yelloweye beans with salt pork. Mom baked them in the coal furnace during the winter and it was my job to lift the lid off the pot and add water to keep the beans from drying out. No matter. Yours sounds delicious. Just wish you set up a Pinterest share. Love your stories Glenn. Makes me want to visit your part of the country.