Tom Curren’s Beanhole Beans
An authentic recipe for old-fashioned beanhole beans from NH’s logging-camp days, adapted for the home oven.
By Yankee Magazine|Aug 25 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanBeanhole beans, or beans-in-the-ground, are Tom Curren’s specialty: 25 pounds of beans baked the way they were in the logging camps of the Great North Woods, where they had no ovens. Here’s a scaled-down version of Tom’s recipe for beanhole beans, adapted for your home oven. This recipe still makes a generous amount, but the beans freeze beautifully.
LEARN MORE: Tom Curren | Best Cook
Yield:
16-20 servingsIngredients
2 pounds dried beans, preferably local
6 ounces salt pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 ham hock (optional)
1-1/4 cups dark (Grade B) maple syrup
1 large onion, quartered
1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
The night before you cook the beans, give them a rinse and put them in a large bowl with enough water to cover by 3 inches. Soak them 10 to 12 hours; add more water as needed toward the end of soaking. When the beans are done soaking, drain well.
Put the beans in a 4- to 5-quart pot with enough water to cover by 1 to 2 inches. Set over high heat and bring to a boil; then reduce the heat to a low simmer and skim the foam off the surface. Simmer the beans gently, adding water as needed, until the skins crack when you blow on them, 45 to 60 minutes.
When the beans are done, remove from the heat and drain. Preheat your oven to 250° and bring a medium-size pot of water to a simmer. Return the beans to the 4- to 5-quart pot and add the salt pork, ham hock (if using), maple syrup, and onion. Stir; then add the salt, ginger, mustard, pepper, and thyme, and stir. Add enough hot water to cover the beans by 1 inch.
Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Bake until the beans are soft and sweet, 4½ to 6 hours total, checking regularly and adding water as needed to keep the beans from getting dry. The finished beans should be tender, not mushy or soupy.
I’d love to hear from anyone who made this recipe to see if it turned out inedible like mine did.
Gail, what was wrong with them? I wanted to make them, now I’m hesitant.
if you can’t trust edie clark, who can you trust….make the beans
I saved the bean recipe From Mary” farm for quite a while now..still have the copy of Yankee!
Did you cook them in the soaking water? Maybe you had bad beans. Old beans can take forever to become smooth. Some old beans may never become smooth. Ordering beans on the internet from specialty bean growers ensures that you are eaten this year’s beans. The difference between dried beans that are less than a year old and dried beans that are who-knows-how-many years old is remarkable.
I was taught how to make being home been 60 years ago from my grandfather’s recipe and he always used molasses I’ve never heard of using maple syrup boy that’s a lot of maple syrup.
Molasses is the key, not maple syrup, but Maple Syrup would work also though.
My grandfather was a lumber jack in New Hampshire and told us stories of the beans that were made in a giant beanhole in the grou d in camp. We thought he was making up tales, but I read an artivle in Yankee years ago about the lumber kacks doing this. My dad decoced to try making them in the group. He Doug out a hole, lined it with bricks, used a cast irin coveted kettle, charcol, covered the hole with a metal sheet and baked the beans for hours. Everyone loved them, none left. Delish!!!
As a New Englander lining in NY I was often asked for my baked bean recipe. It began as follows. First take your can opener …………