Not For Diets BAKED BEANS But Worth The Cheat!

Before I begin I have a couple tips learned through trial and error and then research: Hard water or water with chemicals in it may cause your beans to never soften no matter how long you cook them....after several pots of ruined beans I now use bottled spring water just to be safe, that is up to you....second, when testing your beans for softness, don't be dainty here, test several in dif spots...

This recipe makes a lot of beans enough for eating and some for freezing, and they freeze terrific...

Oven temp 300 degrees

Soak a rinsed and picked over 2 pound bag of yellow eye beans in enough water to cover 2 inches above, with 1/2 tsp of baking soda on your counter overnight...

Drain and rinse, put in large pan and cover again with fresh water 1 inch above and simmer till skins wrinkle when lightly blown on, usually about 20 minutes or so...

While they are simmering lightly spray a large baking pot and add a large onion chunked, slice up about half a pound of very lean salt pork, get out maple syrup, salt and dry mustard...

When beans are done simmering drain and SAVE cooking water and set aside....add the beans, 1 1/2 cup of maple syrup, 1 tsp dried mustard, 1 tsp of salt to the pot...top with the sliced salt pork then add some of the reserved bean water to cover the beans, still saving the bean water....COVER and bake 5 hours checking about every 2 hours to see if more of the reserved water is needed to cover the beans....after 5 hours, remove cover, DRIZZLE with another half cup of maple syrup and continue baking until beans are to your desired tenderness (see note above) and nicely browned......