Baked Beans

I promised a few people I'd post this recipe, and kept forgetting. My recipe for this week is sitting on the stove taking much longer than it's supposed to be for the brussels sprouts to soften up, so in the meantime I thought I'd write this one up.

This is from America: The Vegetarian Table by Deborah Madison. Generally all of the Vegetarian Table series cookbooks are excellent, although America is among the best. North Africa is also fantastic. France is currently proving a little off on the cooking times (at this very moment!)

I added powdered Lapsang Souchong tea to the recipe to give it a particular smokiness. Lapsang Souchong is a particular kind of black tea -- not expensive, and quite common at any tea shop -- that is smoked in woven baskets over pine fires. The tea itself smells like a camp fire. It is not subtle. Don't overdo it, or the tea can easily overpower the rest of the flavors.

Also, soybeans take longer to soak and cook than just about any other bean. They also expand more than most beans while soaking. I'd recommend putting them to soak the night before, and adding water over the course of the next two hours, eventually leaving them covered by a good 3 inches of water or more. I cooked them for 3 hours and they still could have used more. I guess the message is just this: err on the side of over-doing it with the beans. You can't really ruin beans by cooking them too much, but too little and they're tough and chewy.

Baked Beans, like Apple Pie, is a definitive American dish. There are a number of slow-cooked bean dishes throughout New England, all with their arguable differences, but they always include pork of some kind, a sweetener--first maple syrup, then molasses and brown sugar--and the bean itself, which might be a navy bean, marrow bean, yellow-eyed pea, or another. A splash of bourbon or rum finds its way into beans as they travel south. The slab of salt pork is what provides succulence for the beans. Since it's not used here, I've switched to the soybean, a creamy, fat little legume that gives the final dish the richness it needs. Soybeans can take up to 3 hours to cook until tender, so I prefer to cook them on top of the stove until they're done, then finish them in the oven, instead of tying up oven heat and space. Unsoaked soybeans take 35 to 40 minutes in a pressure cooker.

3c yellow soybeans, picked over and soaked for 12 hours in [filtered, not tap -- Ed.] water to cover
4 bay leaves
1 small yellow onion, peeled but left whole.
4 whole cloves
3T safflower oil
3c finely diced yellow onion
1/3c brown sugar [I used light -- Ed.]
1/2c molasses
1/3c tamari
2t salt
1 1/2t ground chipotle chile or pureed chipotle in adobo sauce
1-2t ground Lapsang Souchong black tea (my addition -- Ed.)

Put the beans in a heavy saucepan with 2 of the bay leaves and the onion stuck with the cloves. Add fresh water to cover by 6 inches and bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Scoop off any foam, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 3 hours. Check to make sure there's ample liquid covering the beans while they're cooking.

While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and the remaining 2 bay leaves and cook until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Set aside.

When the beans are done, drain them, reserving the liquid, and place them in a bowl. Stir in the onion, brown sugar, molasses, soy sauce, salt, and chipotle chile [and powdered tea -- Ed.] Put the beans in a shallow baking dish and add the reserved liquid plus water, if needed, so that the mixture is a little soupy and the beans are just covered. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and continue baking until the beans brown on top, another 30 minutes or so.

Serve the beans on plates or in shallow bowls.