Beanhole Baked Beans

[Fairfield]

Selden Connor, a general from Maine, had accomplishments other than his military prowess. He was a cook, praised for his beanhole baked beans. Now, this dish didn't originate with General Connor but with the Penobscot indians. By the time of the Civil War, it was pretty much a staple in Maine lumber camps--and the general was the son of a lumberman. I don't know what his exact recipe was but this is the way it was made in lumber camps:

First, dig a bean hole (abt. 3' deep and wide enough to hold the bean pot with a bit of room to spare for hot charcoal)
Second, soak the beans overnight.
Third, set a fire in the hole and let it burn for abt. 8 hours until there's a bed of hot charcoal
Fourth, combine in a clay pot (or in one of cast iron) the soaked beans, bear grease (the soldiers probably used salt pork), maple syrup (the solders probably used molasses), sugar and mustard.
Fifth, set the pot in the pit and surround it with the hot charcoal--including the top (so the pot must have been covered). Then cover with dirt and leave for 8 hours before digging out.

Serve with brown bread (General Connor was known for that as well). I really doubt that he did the actual cooking for his Maine soldiers and probably just supervised.

More modern recipes will give appropriate amounts for ingredients--unless you really are feeding a military regiment!

 

[donna]

Thanks for adding.

 

[Shalom Hobbitess]

Some moderns think "Hasty Pudding" was an ironic name -- recipes like this show why they're wrong.

 

[Fairfield]

A friend just sent me this video of the process which--as you can see--is still in use.