Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-12-06

A DfsquisitiOn on that Luscious Article
of New England Diet.


DfsquisitiOn on that Luscious Article
of New England Diet.
There are beans, says Adirondack
Murray's Golden Ratle, and then there
are beans This is dictum that we
need not argue, in Yankee land, where
the favorite vegetable is mis-cooked in
as many different ways as there are to
make poor bread. We always sympa-
thized in the jeremiade of the out
spoken Gail Hamilton (what would
have become of her if she had kept
pent up for the past dozen years !! over
the decay of New England knack, in
modern days, in preparing the regula-
ton Sunday morning breakfast. We
believe she classed it with the most-to-
be-lamented of the Lost Arts. There
are many manifestations OF this loss;
among which are the slippery, sloppery,
yellow beans of the corner bakery-in.
tact, globular, perversely individual,
which no man is justified in guessing
are either steamed, boiled or baked.
1t Is Fundamental axiom in correct
bean-baking, that no dish can be right
that is unmussed" A whole bean is
confession of failure in the cook.
Then there are the baked beans of the
restaurant; a dry, underdone, waxy ag-
gravating mess. A son of Yankee,
who will "make way with" a plate of
the average clearinghouse beans, when
ne can get an apple nine days
old, or q sandwich that has
been used for sign not more than a
week, is degenerate scion. And then
there are the fashionable" baked
beans, served in q shallow. dainty plat
ter, more adapted to display the china
than to do justice to the generous his
toric dish innocent of pork, bleached
until they are favorless, and then
cooked to death. Beans cannot sur
vive "style." 1t is as fatal to them as
it is to spare-rib, or roast-oysters, or
any of the good old-time lu1ries. We
have interviewed, sp ecially for this oc-
casion, a housekeeper wose baked
beans are worthy the renown of that
ancestor Of hers who helped through
the war of the revolution by seeing to
it that the soldiers home on furlough,
or IN adjacent camps, always had good
rye-and-injun-bread and baked beans
fit for q patriot. And she says that the
only secret about it is "to have them
just right" You want to soak them
over night, or par-boil them in two or
three waters until they are at the crack
ing point. If your appetite is not ro-
bust enough to eat pork and you have
art enough to cook them without it, all
that is required is to season the dish to
the fine point Of half pinch of salt, a
single shake of the pepper-box, and g.
limp of butter neither to large nor to
small, and have piece Of fresh spare
rib roasted separately to serve
with them. The beans must
also be of "just the right
consistency when put into the dish for
baking" So far we believe, it is all
clean. If you have stamina enough
for pork praise your ancestry and
kind heaven, and put the sweet cris-
crossed piece of seasoning meat, with
its impossibilities of crisp rinds, in the
center of the dish, with slices ornam ent-
ing the sides. All you need Of the oven
is to have it neither too hot nor toe
SLOW" The beans must then simmer
until they are "just DONE" To secure
the exact shade of brown over the top,
and the precise degree of heat and
moisture inside needed to bring each in
dividual bean to the very point Of
cracking and coalescing with its neigh.
bor-without entirely doing it-that is
all the direction one needs as to baking.
If it isn't clear, you must learn as the
boy learns to swim. And then as to
serving, 1t is the egg of an effete and
over-ripe social despotism to "dish-out"
a pan of baked beans. Assert your in
dependence, and preserve the integrity
of your result, by placing them upon
the table in the dish in which they
were cooked. Let the servant pass
around the empty china, if you wish,
to assure the family or guest that you
have it. And have enough left to
know the luxury of cold beans that
have heart in them Thus shall one
of our glorious New England institu-
tons be restored, to add lustre to the
centennial year.