It was the original crock pot (slow cooker). Imagine, preparing something savory that took hours to cook down into a luscious, creamy texture? What device could perform this task? Folks, it is the bean pot!
As the name implies, bean pots were created to cook beans. In case you are not familiar with one; it is a deep, yet wide pot with a thick base and a lid. These pots are traditionally ceramic and glazed both on the inside and exterior of the pot. Bean pots also came in a variety of sizes such as: 3 quart, 1 1/2 quart, and 1 quart.
Bean pots not only graced the homestead kitchen, but also the kitchen of city dwellers. These vessels performed their task so well that they can still be found in kitchens across the country. While they may not be common at your local department store, they regularly appear at antique shops, flea markets, specialty shops, and online catalogs.
I grew up in a home where a bean pot was used regularly. One of the main reasons is that beans are an inexpensive source of protein, which is important when you are feeding a large family on a limited income. However, beans graced our table not only because they were cheap, but when prepared properly, they create one of the most luscious meals…baked beans!
Before you pull up a chair to the table, there are a few steps you must take in order to prepare the primary ingredient in this wonderful vessel.
First, clean the dry beans. Given how beans are harvested, bits of debris may end up along with the packaged beans. Items could include small pebbles and dried leaves or stems. Pour the beans into a large flat pan. Spread the beans out searching for items other than beans. Discard any objects other than beans.
Second, rinse the beans. Place the beans in a colander and rinse with cool water. Rinse until the water dripping from the bottom of the colander runs clear.
Third, soak your beans. Place the beans in a large pan and cover with water. By soaking the beans, two objectives are reached. The first is that the cooking time will be shortened as the soak will begin to soften the beans. The other objective when starting with dried beans is that the soak will help reduce the gas-producing compound in the beans. Bring the water to a boil with the beans and continue the boil for 3 – 4 minutes. You will then remove the beans from the heat. Cover the pot with a lid and allow to sit overnight. In the morning, drain the water from the beans. Rinse with fresh water.
The final step is to cook your beans. Place the soaked beans into a bean pot and add enough water to cover the beans by 2″. You may add other flavorings such as diced onions, molasses, mustard, brown sugar, and ketchup. Place the bean pot into an oven pre-heated to 300F. Baked the beans with the lid on the pot. Bake for at least 4 hours, and removing the pot once an hour to stir the beans. If the water level is low and the beans are still firm, add more water and allow to cook longer. When the beans are almost ready, season with salt to taste.
In my experience, baking beans is something that can take anywhere from 3 hours to 12 hours, depending on the age of the beans. The older the beans, the longer the cooking time. Just keep checking on the beans once every hour. The beans are done when they are tender and have lost their firmness.
So friends, pull out that bean pot and buy a bag of dried beans. Not only can you prepare a great tasting dish, but you can relive a bit of history by serving homemade baked beans at your dinner table.
Yum, yum! Beans cooked slowly in the oven have amazing flavor!
Yes they do. While it takes longer to prepare them this way compared to opening a can from the store, the flavor is superior.
Hello – I have a clay bean pot … do I need to soak it and the lid overnight before baking beans? My mother says “yes” but I have never seen her use a clay pot to bake beans – hers is ceramic. Your thoughts, if you know, please?
I have no experience cooking in a clay pot. Sorry.
Can the bean crock go on the stove? Thanks for all this… i cook mine a long time and always still hard! I think i need to add more water? I usually follow the 1“ directions but like your 2“!!!
Thank you for this, I’m going to experiment with my bean pot, now!
Have fun experimenting! I am going to make some posole next in my bean pot.
Same. Thanks.
Thank you for this! I have three vintage bean pots, two from my grandmother. Now all I need to do is track down a delicious baked bean recipe. Thanks for linking up to this week’s blog hop! ~Melissa http://www.tillysnest.com
We make homemade baked beans every other week. I tend to add a little of this and a little of that, but a couple of items always make it into the bean pot (besides the beans): diced onions, molasses, stone ground mustard, and diced tomatoes. Have fun with your bean pots!
There are a few places around here I want to go hunting at for one of these pots. I don’t make beans near often enough and this looks like a good reason to do it more. Thanks for the directions.
P.S I ran across your blog on the Down Home Blog Hop.
I found one of my bean pots at a thrift store and they show up periodically at garage sales for not much $$$. After soaking the beans overnight, I simply put everything into the pot and place it in the oven. I think you will enjoy using one. Good luck with your search.
How interesting! I have a bean pot that was my husband’s grandmothers. I just didn’t know what it was!
Vicki
Glad to help you identify a family treasure. They really are great cooking vessels.
I keep meaning to do exactly this, I have an old bean pot just waiting to be used! Thanks for sharing your post on the HomeAcre Hop, hope to see you again tomorrow!
– Nancy
On The Home Front
You are welcome and hope you get out your bean pot. I have a batch of beans going right now in mine for dinner tonight.
OMG someone forgot one last step in parboiling beans: Baking soda! I tablespoon after perboiling to release the gas! -Fart remover! Then cook according o your likes.
In our version, we don’t parboil the beans, but soak them overnight. The following morning, discard the soaking water. This method also de-gases the beans.
Don’t add baking soda! It may reduce the gas you get, but it also reduces the nutrition. “Turns out cooking food with baking soda (a.k.a. sodium bicarbonate) can indeed damage a number of nutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin D, riboflavin, thiamin, and one essential amino acid.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/09/28/does-baking-soda-destroy-nutrients-vegetables/CIrZPOc5Fyxc5JEzs04wdM/story.html
It’s a good idea to put salt in the soaking water (2 tsp per quart). The brine helps to tenderize the skins and make the interiors creamy. (Advice is from America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated.) I usually also cook the beans on the stovetop until fairly tender (6 minutes in the pressure cooker or 40 minutes in an open pot) before mixing with the other ingredients. I do not salt the cooking water but season the beans after boiling (again, per ATK/CI, for the same reasons). Baked beans are the best! I love experimenting with different spice combinations, but I always put in a bit of cumin.
That is true about salt to the soaking water. My beans always get a soak before being cooked. Once the beans are tender, then I taste for additional seasoning: salt, pepper, sometimes cumin if I want a south of the border flavor, and sometimes cayenne.
Meh, America’s Test Kitchen… I’ve found their explanations interesting and the science behind most of what they say fascinating, but their recipes have always been hot or miss for me. I’ve been disappointed by them more often than I’ve enjoyed their recipes and methods.
Having said that, I also simmer my beans, but for an hour prior to draining, using the bean juice for the base in my molasses/br sugar/ mustard liquid. Mine always come out tender and there’s still plenty of that creaminess. I rather like when they’re tender but not a big gloppy mess. It’s all about liquid amount, temp and time. Too much time and the beans are mush, the creaminess is more like spackle. Now… I DO add a couple of teaspoons to my water before simmering, so that may count toward the brining of the skins.
Glad to see other people who use bean pots!
I’m about to figure out a way to simmer 2lbs of deer stew meat up.
I have 2 bean crocks. Are there any other recipes or ways I can use them?
The bean crocks are good for cooking things low and slow. You could cook things like a brisket or other cuts of meat with a lot of connective tissue (though I would brown it in a pan before putting it in a bean crock (with liquid to braise). You could also try things such as a porridge or steel-cut oatmeal (bake overnight in a very low oven with the recommended amount of liquid per cup of oatmeal). Does this help?
Instead of using an oven can you place the pot in a grill?
Personally, I would be nervous putting a bean pot on the grill unless you can carefully regulate the temperature of the grill. Too high of heat could crack your bean pot.
A friend gave me her bean pot this weekend because she said she’s had it for 12 years and still hasn’t used it. I soaked some beans in it overnight and was looking for a good recipe to use for its first use. After thinking about it, though, I think I’ll put it away till the winter. It’s the middle of summer and the idea of heating up the kitchen more and also wasting all the electricity to run the oven for hours and hours just doesn’t make sense when I can use my stovetop pressure cooker or Instant Pot to make them in a matter of minutes. I think these would make much more sense when families had an cast iron stove heating the house all day anyway… It sounds like a nice idea once it’s bitterly cold here in Minnesota though. 🙂
We generally don’t cook beans during the summer months due to the stove heating up the kitchen. For me, it much more of a fall or winter dish. While I get out my pressure cooker occasionally for beans, I find that the flavor after pressure cooking just isn’t quite the same as when using the bean pot. Plus, I like that fact that a bean pot (depending on size) can readily share oven space with a roast… so one appliance cooking two things at the same time.
“They are wonderful as a treat at a picnic…..planning one for a family reunion this summer.
Wondering if I can make HAM & BEANS in my bean pot??
Thanks
Of course! It will be tasty!
I don’t want to wait until I find a bean pot at a yard sale or thrift store. I also don’t want one that is not lead free. So…I’m going to order one off Amazon. How do I season a new bean pot. Do they need to be periodically reseasoned? Can you cook things like potato soup in them?
I plan on buying a new bean pot. Must it be seasoned before use and periodically reseasoned?
The ceramic bean pots do not need to be reseasoned. Just clean well between uses.
Since bean pots are typically glazed, you don’t have to worry about seasoning them.
I just came across a bean pot with cups today and had no idea how I was going to use it. I’m so glad you can put directly in the oven! I was doing research on them and I see where it is supposed to have a hot plate with it. Glad I don’t have to track that down.
Glad to help. Enjoy making beans in your pot.
I have a question are all bean pots safe to use in the oven?, cause my grandma gave me one she made with the little bowls that go with it, and anyways I wanted to try to cook in it but I can’t ask her if it’s all safe for the oven since I don’t have her number. Do y’all know if it may be oven safe?
Bean pots were made to be used in the oven.
No one mentioned salt pork. Growing up in Maine my mom would put salt pork in the pot with all the other ingredients it was a great balance of flavor.
My mom would sometimes add salt pork. If I have it on hand, I like to add it to the pot of beans.
My grandmother from an old Maine family always used a big piece of salt pork or fatback. That, a medium chopped onion, molasses, brown sugar, a little dry mustard and salt. Delicious!
I just cooked a pot in her old bean pot I inherited last weekend. Soak the beans overnight, then low and slow- I did 275 Fahrenheit for 10 hours. She did teach me to use the water the beans soaked in to cover the beans in the pot, said it helped the flavor.
Sounds great!
How can I know that my old bean pot is safe for coking? It is hard to see the inside to know if there are cracks.
Try filling your bean pot with water and set it in a larger pan. Let it set overnight. check the next day to see if any water leaked from the bean pot.
I have a 4½ quart bean pot which can (barely) handle 2 lbs. of dried navy beans using the Durgin-Park recipe. I have learned that this recipe is at its best the second time around.
I made a whole pot yesterday for a potluck lunch today and put them in the refrigerator overnight. Any advice on the best way to warm up that whole beanpot before serving at 11:45 this morning?
My plan is to pop it back in a 250° oven for 90 minutes or so before serving.
This recipe calls for cooking for six hours at 325°. I usually get some minor boiling over during the second hour. I’m considering skimping the blanching in baking sola solution and doing 12+ hours at 250° on my next try. Thoughts?
I would heat the beans slowly and periodically stir them.
I soak my bean with a few tablespoons of whey added to the water, changing the water out morning and evening for at least two days. Whey I get left over from making yogurt and draining for “Greek” style. This jump-starts fermentation and releases “gas” while preserving nutrients. The more gassy the bean the longer I soak them, always changing the water twice daily.
I don’t add salt until the last 20 minutes of cook time. I’ve always been told salt will toughen the skins.
Bean pot and effect got one for my wedding anniversary my mother died a few years ago I also have hers. December 20th 2019 cracked open the bean pot molasses brown sugar maple syrup brown mustard mustard got to have salt pork in there! Happy bean potting from Eastford , Connecticut!-Chris
Enjoy your bean pots!
I didn’t know what it was also. Sent picture to a friend she told me what it is. So now I know how to use it. I’ll be fixing me some beans.
Great!
I didn’t know what it was also. Sent picture to a friend she told me what it is. So now I know how to use it. I’ll be fixing me some beans.
Great!
Can you use it for yellow peas?
Yes, you can.
Can someone share their tried and true recipe please? I do have a bean pot but have never used it. Looking forward to some good recipes ladies 🙂
I wish I had a recipe written down. Next time I made beans, I will note the quantities to create a recipe. I believe that my mom used a recipe off the back of a bag of dried white beans and then added a few other ingredients to add to the flavor. One thing she always added as Worcestershire sauce.
While Sheltering in Place in Covid we have rediscovered cooking due to not dinning out, my husband is the “bean cook” and has started making pots of beans in his Great Grandmother’s Bean Pot. So glad I held onto this wonderful item of family history
I just ordered a vintage bean pot. In addition to beans, my mom used to brown fried chicken and then put it in the pot with (I think) lemon, mustard, butter until it was done. She called it Chicken Piquant but I have never seen a recipe like that. We just try to approximate the flavors. It was one of her best meals and she was a very good cook. We never got the recipe. She left us too soon.
That Chicken Piquant sounds wonderful!
I inherited a bean pot. It is brown and tan. It says B&M on the front and B&M Baked Beans, made in USA, 0606. It is very heavy. It might be made of clay. I’m wondering how to tell if it is safe to cook in – could it have lead that could leach into the beans? Where would I find a recipe?
There are lead testing kits. Find one that is suitable for testing dishes. This is the best way to know for certain if the glaze contains lead or not.
There are quite a few bean recipes online. My mom did not follow a recipe and I do the same.
Does the bean pot have ti be room temperature to start it cooking on the stove? I had leftovers and just placed the cooled beans in the fridge. Next day I wanted to heat them up but wasnt sure if it is tempered?
I would recommend bringing the pot up to room temperature before placing in a hot oven. I have seen pots crack due to the extreme temperature swing from placing a cold crockware/ceramic into a hot oven.
I went to England a couple of years ago to buy for my shop. I purchased three dozen bean pots of which I kept a dozen for my kitchen, but I’ve never actually used them to cook in lol
Your article has spurred me on and I’ve got beans soaking now for tomorrow’s dinner.
The last time I had beans cooked in a pot was on that trip in a lovely little pub. I hope I can do as well as they did.