Basic Ingredients
4 C dry white beans (~1½ lb)
12 C water
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp onion flakes
meaty ham bone or ¼ lb ham
Syrup
⅔ C brown sugar
⅔ C molasses
1 Tbsp mustard
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ C ketchup or BBQ sauce
Sort and rinse beans. Place in dutch oven with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, turn off heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.
Drain in colander and rinse. Return beans to pot. Add salt and enough water to cover beans. Bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then turn heat to low to keep at a simmer. Add onion flakes. Simmer until beans are tender but not mushy.
Pre-heat oven to 300°F.
Drain beans and reserve liquid. Place ham bone in baking dish (bowl shape works best). Pour beans over ham. Mix 3 cups of reserved liquid with all of the syrup ingredients. Pour mixture over beans. Save remaining liquid to add as necessary so that beans remain just covered. Bake, covered, for 5 hours. Stir occasionally and add liquid if needed.
For the last hour, remove ham bone and any large chunks of meat that have fallen off. Dice meat into bite-sized pieces and return to beans. Discard bone.
Yields: 8-12 servings
Time to make: 9 hr
Source: Kathy Hoffman