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This recipe was published c. 1955 in The Handy Cook Book (Second Edition) compiled by The Presbytery Anns of Guymon, Oklahoma. It was submitted by Mrs. L. E. Latham who found the recipe in a cook book owned by her mother, Mrs. S. C. Tyler.
Pick over one quart pea beans, cover with cold water, and soak over night. In morning, drain, cover with fresh water, heat slowly (keeping water below boiling point), and cook until skins will burst — which is best determined by taking a few beans on the tip of a spoon and blowing on them, when skins will burst if sufficiently cooked. Beans thus tested must, of course, be thrown away. Drain beans, throwing bean-water out of doors, not in sink.
Scald rind of ¾ pound fat salt pork, scrape, remove ¼ inch slice and put in bottom of bean pot. Cut through rind of remaining pork every ½ inch, making cuts one inch deep. Put beans in pot and bury pork in beans, leaving rind exposed. Mix one tablespoon salt, one tablespoon molasses and three tablespoons sugar, add one cup boiling water, and pour over beans; then add enough more boiling water to cover beans.
Cover bean pot, put in oven and bake slowly six or eight hours, uncovering the last hour of cooking, that rind may become brown and crisp. Add water as needed.
Many feel that by adding with seasonings ½ tablespoon mustard, the beans are more easily digested. If pork mixed with lean is preferred, use less salt. |