Mom's Saturday Night Baked Beans

 Lacking the original Ashby beans of Caribou, Maine, I followed the advice of the recipe donor, whose mother used Great Northern beans when necessary as a substitute.

The recipe is a pretty standard bean recipe. The difference is in the beans, primarily. I decided to compare this recipe to Baked Yellow-Eye Beans (see blog) on the page facing this recipe. Aside from the bean difference, Yellow-Eye Beans recipe had no salt pork and no ginger (altho I did add salt pork to the yellow-eye beans and that turned out to be a yummy decision). 

I am surprised by the ginger addition. And not sure that it really stands out, flavor-wise. Maybe I should have used more (I halve most of the recipes in the cookbook, since they are just for myself and the Resident Archaeologist).

Well, as any New Englander knows, beans are just a fine food any time of the week or year, but Saturdays are as good a time as any. As those beans baked (confession: I baked them off Sunday morning while I was in church), the smell wafted throughout the parsonage and boy, oh boy, didn't that smell wonderful! I steamed New England Brown Bread (see blog) in the crockpot at the same time. And, of course, we ate red dogs with the beans and bread, to complete the perfect New England meal!