I tried making a batch with baking soda added to the pot, which counteracts the low pH of the molasses and speeds cooking time. This led to a pot of mushy, over-browned beans (a higher pH accelerates browning reactions) that lacked the hard-earned flavor of true slow cooking that was needed to make them a success.

Next, I tried a pressure cooker. It was able to soften the beans in about 30 minutes, even with the molasses already mixed in, but what I was left with was exactly what you’d expect from a gasket-sealed pot that prohibits evaporation and browning: too much broth and not enough flavor. Even after moving the pressure-cooked beans to the oven, I wasn’t able to get nearly the same browning and evaporation as I did from those cooked for a long time in the oven. That left one final method, which is the one you’ll most commonly see, including in many old recipes: par-cooking the beans in water, then mixing them with the molasses and other ingredients, transferring them to the oven, and cooking for several hours more until done.

Well, I tried a few tricks, as well as the overnight method, and found that you really only have a couple of good options.

My favorite beans by far were the ones I cooked start to finish in the oven. I first soaked them in salted water for several hours, drained them, then mixed them with all the other ingredients in a Dutch oven. With the cover on the pot, I slid it into a 250°F oven before going to bed. Thirteen hours later, I had the most beautiful pot of Boston baked beans imaginable. They were silky and tender, with a richly caramelized and browned crust on top and a thickened, sweet-savory sauce that coated each and every bean—the thickening was the result of bean starches leaching out into the cooking liquid during all those slow, sleepy hours. Most of the beans remained whole, or mostly whole, but some broke down, which enriched the sauce—precisely what we want when we don’t want to resort to ketchup.

If you were to disregard basic fire safety and cook the beans start to finish in the oven overnight, all you’d do is combine all the ingredients in a Dutch oven, cover it, and bake it for hours upon hours upon hours. Toward the end, if they got too dry, you’d need to add a splash or two of boiling water, but otherwise, that’s about it. Just remember: I’m not officially recommending this, so if you burn your house down, don’t come looking for me.

The safer route is one that allows you to monitor the cooking process throughout.

Step 1: Soak Beans in Salted Water
Kenji recently tested bean-soaking and -cooking methods and found that he got the best, most consistent, most evenly cooked results by soaking the beans overnight in water with one tablespoon of kosher salt per quart (about 15 grams per liter). So that’s what we’re doing here. Once the presoak is done, drain them well, rinse them with fresh water, and add them to a pot.

Before I move on to the method for making the beans, a quick word on the pork. Traditionally, the cut used is salt pork, which is the salted and cured slab of thick fat that runs along a pig’s back. It adds a deep, pure pork flavor to the beans, but you do need to watch out for two things. First, if you use a piece of salt pork that’s solid fat, with no stripe of muscle at all, you may want to cut the quantity slightly (say, from a half pound down to a third of a pound or so per pound of beans). If you don’t, you can end up with some seriously greasy beans…good if you’re a lumberjack, but not great otherwise.

Second, some salt pork comes with plenty of salt still clinging to it. If yours does, you’ll want to wash the excess off, lest your beans end up oversalted.

If you can’t find salt pork, you can, of course, substitute slab or thick-cut bacon. Since bacon comes from the belly, the cut has a higher ratio of lean muscle to fat than salt pork does. You can stay at a half pound per pound of beans, or you can go wild and bump it up to three-quarters of a pound if you want them extra bacon-y. That’s not such a bad thing, since the bacon adds a smoky flavor that’s probably not too far off from the taste of the beans back when the Pilgrims cooked them in the flickering embers of a dying wood fire.

Now top the beans up with enough fresh water to cover by a couple of inches, and add a generous pinch of salt to the pot. (Once again, the salt allows for more even cooking and fewer ruptured beans.)

I always cook my beans with some aromatics, like onion, carrot, garlic, and woodsy herbs such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, and/or thyme. It’s not necessarily traditional to do this for Boston baked beans, but the aromatics always add enough of a flavor boost to all my bean dishes that I see no reason not to do it here as well.

Bring the pot to a gentle simmer, then cook the beans until they’re done. I made the mistake early on in my testing of precooking them to just shy of doneness, and the result was an endless baking time due to the powerful effect of molasses. Take my word for it: You want the beans creamy and tender before they even go in the oven.

That left one final method, which is the one you’ll most commonly see, including in many old recipes: par-cooking the beans in water, then mixing them with the molasses and other ingredients, transferring them to the oven, and cooking for several hours more until done. It’s a method that works, but there are a few key steps needed along the way for the beans to come out just right.

While the beans are cooking, I prep the other ingredients, cutting the salt pork into large chunks, dicing the onion, and combining the molasses with the mustard, salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Molasses is very thick, which makes it difficult to combine with the beans. The solution: As soon as the beans are done, take a couple of cups of the bean-cooking liquid and mix it with the molasses to thin it out. A lot of recipes have you drain and discard the cooking water and replace it with fresh water, but that’s a terrible idea. That bean water is loaded with bean starch and flavor, two things you absolutely want to keep in the bean pot.

These tahini brownies are deliciously fudgy and rich. they’re the perfect afternoon snack or after dinner dessert with a large scoop of ice cream. we love to make a big batch and freeze them for busy days.

ingredients
5 ½ tablespoons of cacao powder
300g coconut sugar
200g plain flour, we use gluten-free flour
7 tablespoons of coconut oil
4 heaped tablespoons of tahini, be sure to use a creamy tahini like belazu
200ml almond milk
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of sea salt
method
preheat the oven to 180c (350f), fan setting.
in a large bowl mix together the cacao powder, coconut sugar, plain flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt until there are no lumps.
melt the coconut oil in a small bowl over a low heat.
once melted, add the coconut oil, tahini and almond milk and mix well.
pour the mixture into a lined baking tray and cook for 30-35 minutes until cooked through, but still a little fudgy in the middle.
once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting into brownies. tip: we also like to drizzle a little extra tahini and a sprinkle of sesame seeds over the top.

These tahini brownies are deliciously fudgy and rich. they’re the perfect afternoon snack or after dinner dessert with a large scoop of ice cream. we love to make a big batch and freeze them for busy days.

ingredients
5 ½ tablespoons of cacao powder
300g coconut sugar
200g plain flour, we use gluten-free flour
7 tablespoons of coconut oil
4 heaped tablespoons of tahini, be sure to use a creamy tahini like belazu
200ml almond milk
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of sea salt
method
preheat the oven to 180c (350f), fan setting.
in a large bowl mix together the cacao powder, coconut sugar, plain flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt until there are no lumps.
melt the coconut oil in a small bowl over a low heat.
once melted, add the coconut oil, tahini and almond milk and mix well.
pour the mixture into a lined baking tray and cook for 30-35 minutes until cooked through, but still a little fudgy in the middle.
once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting into brownies. tip: we also like to drizzle a little extra tahini and a sprinkle of sesame seeds over the top.

This is the ultimate chocolate tart. a thin base made from crushed almonds, coconut, dates and cacao is covered in a rich, velvety cacao butter filling.

ingredients
For the base
100g ground almonds
100g desiccated coconut
16 pitted medjool dates
1 heaped tablespoon of cacao powder
1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil
For the filling
440g cacao butter
12 tablespoons of cacao powder
6 tablespoons of maple syrup
10 tablespoons of date syrup
50ml almond milk
Method
Simply place all the base ingredients into a food processor.
Pulse until a crumbly mixture forms.
Pour the base mixture into a lined cake tin and press down hard.
Leave in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Place all of the filling ingredients into a small pan over a low heat and stir until melted, ensuring not to bring it to the boil.
Once everything has melted, pour the filling over the base layer.
Place back in the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.

This is the ultimate chocolate tart. a thin base made from crushed almonds, coconut, dates and cacao is covered in a rich, velvety cacao butter filling.

ingredients
For the base
100g ground almonds
100g desiccated coconut
16 pitted medjool dates
1 heaped tablespoon of cacao powder
1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil
For the filling
440g cacao butter
12 tablespoons of cacao powder
6 tablespoons of maple syrup
10 tablespoons of date syrup
50ml almond milk
method
simply place all the base ingredients into a food processor.
pulse until a crumbly mixture forms.
pour the base mixture into a lined cake tin and press down hard.
leave in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
place all of the filling ingredients into a small pan over a low heat and stir until melted, ensuring not to bring it to the boil.
once everything has melted, pour the filling over the base layer.
place back in the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.

These tahini brownies are deliciously fudgy and rich. they’re the perfect afternoon snack or after dinner dessert with a large scoop of ice cream. we love to make a big batch and freeze them for busy days.

ingredients
5 ½ tablespoons of cacao powder
300g coconut sugar
200g plain flour, we use gluten-free flour
7 tablespoons of coconut oil
4 heaped tablespoons of tahini, be sure to use a creamy tahini like belazu
200ml almond milk
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of sea salt
method
preheat the oven to 180c (350f), fan setting.
in a large bowl mix together the cacao powder, coconut sugar, plain flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt until there are no lumps.
melt the coconut oil in a small bowl over a low heat.
once melted, add the coconut oil, tahini and almond milk and mix well.
pour the mixture into a lined baking tray and cook for 30-35 minutes until cooked through, but still a little fudgy in the middle.
once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting into brownies. tip: we also like to drizzle a little extra tahini and a sprinkle of sesame seeds over the top.