You’ll be the star of the barbecue with honest Yankee baked beans: this recipe is an authentic American classic. During the American Revolution, patriots shunned imported cane sugar and molasses and relied on home-grown maple syrup instead. You’ll want to use the darkest maple syrup you can (graded dark or very dark).

 Serves 6photo of raw ingredients used to make beans

2 ¼ cups dried navy beans
1 tsp. salt
½ pound slab or country bacon, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 large shallot, coarsely chopped
¾ cup dark or very dark maple syrup
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. coarse Dijon mustard or mustard seeds
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Boiling water
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water by 2 inches; soak for at least 6 hours or overnight; drain. Or, to quick-soak the beans, rinse them, then turn into a saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Set over high heat and boil for a few minutes; turn off the heat and soak the beans for about an hour; drain.

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Set a Dutch oven or flame-proof casserole dish over medium-high heat and cook the bacon until it browns and renders the fat, about 8-10 minutes. Remove the bacon and set aside to drain. Stir in the onion and shallot and cook until softened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the beans and remove the pot from the heat.

Stir the maple syrup, vinegar, mustard and pepper into the bean pot and add enough boiling water to cover the beans. Cover the pot and bake until the beans are very tender but retain their shape, about 2 to 3 hours, adding more water if they look too dry.

Remove the pot from the oven, stir and season to taste with salt and pepper. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F and return the uncovered pot to the oven. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and the top is brown, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Scatter the bacon over the top of the beans before serving.

SWEET TIP
You can make this with canned navy beans. Skip the soaking and precooking steps. Simply add four 15-oz. cans of beans, drained, to the Dutch oven after cooking the bacon and onion.

From Sweet Nature: A Cook’s Guide to Using Honey and Maple Syrup by Beth Dooley & Mette Nielsen (University of Minnesota Press, 2019). Copyright 2019 by Beth Dooley and Mette Nielsen. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the University of Minnesota Press.