Secondhand Savvy

Pa’s Baked Beans – Québec Style
Jo-Anne Lauzer

Growing up in northern Québec, comfort food for me was one of two things – my mom’s tourtiere or my dad’s baked beans. To this day, I still crave baked beans when it starts to get cold outside and when I get homesick. My father’s recipe is quite simple, and probably similar to many other recipes from Québec. The ingredients are all things the average French Canadian family would have in their pantry or in their refrigerators. My dad used salt pork but while visiting my aunt during hunting season one year, I was lucky enough to have baked beans cooked overnight in a slow cooker with wild partridge meat, it was a rare treat.

In Québec, beans are a staple for any meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). My favourite is when served for Easter brunch. Alongside with home-style fried potatoes, bacon or sausage, and eggs cooked in maple syrup, the beans add a nice touch to this very decadent breakfast. There is a reason it was only served once a year! I inherited my dad’s favourite bean pot after he died. When I am missing him, and home, I cook up a batch of his beans and serve it with rustic French bread or a fresh baguette and a small dollop of ketchup.

Serves 6 – 8
Set oven to 200C

2 lbs (908 grams or 2 cups or 473 ml) of dry white beans (small Great Northern work well)
1 medium onion (peeled and cut into thick wedges)
1 tsp (5 ml) of dried mustard powder
¼ pound (100 grams) of salt pork (rinse and cut into small cubes and cut off excess fat as preferred)
¼ cup (60 ml) of shortening (or 2 tablespoons (15 ml) of olive oil)
2 tablespoons (15 ml) of pure Quebec Maple Syrup (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight in cold water then drain. Put in a large saucepan, cover again with water and cook for 30 minutes on the stove top. Drain and set beans aside.

If you have a bean pot, that would be preferable but a Dutch oven would work well too. In the bottom of the bean pot place onion wedges, dried mustard and half of the cubed salt pork.

Add the cooked beans and shortening (and maple syrup if desired) then cover with water (just to the height of the beans) and add the rest of the salt pork.

Cover and cook slowly at 200 degrees for 8 hours (or overnight). Check occasionally to see if any extra water is needed, it is important that the beans don’t dry out. When done, add salt and pepper to taste.

My father always added that if you would prefer a BBQ taste; add a cup of BBQ sauce during the last hour of cooking.

**Nothing goes to waste in a French Canadian home, so leftovers are kept in the refrigerator and reheated either in a frying pan or in the microwave.