Baked Beans
Baked Beans ( UK / bi ː nz beɪkt /, baked beans ) are a traditional British and American dish of white beans that are baked with tomato sauce or ketchup in the oven. Baked Beans are an integral part of the English breakfast and in the U.S. a popular side dish at a barbecue.
To prepare dried white beans are first soaked in water for several hours, seasoned with tomato sauce and molasses or brown sugar. The beans are then placed in an oven-proof dish, covered with a few slices of bacon and cooked in a closed vessel over medium heat for three to four hours.
The white beans that are usually taken for the preparation, derived from the species Phaseolus vulgaris and thus originally from America. They came with the European colonizers to Europe. Even the Native Americans prepared white beans with maple syrup and bear fat into a container filled with hot stones or hot ashes foxhole. The European settlers replaced over time the hole in the ground by a pot, the maple syrup by other syrup and the Bear by lard. By the end of the 19th century was still tomato sauce added as an integral part of the court.
The adapted preparation was popular especially in the states of New England. In the 19th century baked beans were dark bread with the standard main course on Sunday. Among other things, the Christian families of New England could avoid everyday work by boiling so on the Sabbath. Families baked beans either in their oven or brought them, unless a separate oven was not available on Saturday night to the bakery to make them prepared on Sunday to pick up again. A typical recipe of New England from 1857 was:
"Take one and a half liters of white beans and add them overnight in cold water. Take them out the next morning, wash and brush them well, then pour into a saucepan and cook them until they are soft. Then pour it into a vessel of clay. Cut a nice piece of pork from and put it on the beans. Jaw everything until it is well brown. This is a good dish for a winter day. "
Since in the course of the 19th century, many families replaced their traditional brick oven with smaller iron stoves, took the number of baked beans from the bakery to at this time. Molasses spread as an encore at about 1870. Compared with the traditional dishes has increased particularly the proportion of molasses in the 20th century. Today's Baked Beans are usually much sweeter than their predecessors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Baked Beans are mainly there a standard dish of everyday kitchen, and Boston has been nicknamed as Bean Town. In many rural communities in New England find regularly on Sundays " Church Suppers " in the Christian communities instead. In the social coming together in the community Beaked beans and bread form the main course. In rural or tourist-oriented areas in Maine, the beans are occasionally still prepared traditionally in the foxhole. From New England, the Court emigrated to England.
Baked Beans are also available as canned goods in trade. They were one of the first dishes that have ever been canned. In 1867, the company Burnham & Morrill (B & M) from Portland, Maine " Baked Beans from the brick oven " her. The importance of Baked Beans in Anglo-American countries is so great that they are in the current industry statistics counted as a separate product group besides tomatoes and all other vegetables. In the UK, for example, the turnover two-thirds of the sales of all other vegetables, canned achieved with Baked Beans combined. The consumption of baked beans is there, unlike other canned vegetables, strongly influenced by certain brands, the advertising budget for baked beans is far higher than other comparable products. Also, baked beans are a global scale produced by companies other than other canned vegetables. Since there is no baked beans as a frozen product, they are one of the few canned food, the sale of which has not declined in recent decades.
In the Arab world is a similar dish - Foul Medammes - widespread. This is prepared in the normal case with a native of Asia fava beans. Comparable are the Gigantes ( with tomato sauce in the oven baked red beans ) of Greek cuisine.