Baked Beans

Well, yes, you could just open a can. But homemade baked beans offer much, much more. They offer a connection to the past. One of my favorite food writers, Della Lutes, opens her 1935 classic The Country Kitchen with an accounting of her father's birthday feast in 1882: "A great pan of beans was baked, nice, white Michigan [or New York State] beans, soaked overnight, parboiled in the early morning with a pinch of soda, then washed in cold water and boiled again with a slab of salt pork and an onion, until the outer skin burst.

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 522 Main St., will hold its sixth annual BBQ Cookoff on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. Entries will be judged in four categories: barbecue, baked beans, cole slaw and dessert. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children ages 5 to 12; tickets are available at the door. Proceeds from the BBQ Cookoff benefit Elizabeth House and the holiday food baskets parishioners at St. Philip's provide for more than 40 school families at Christmas. To enter the contest, contact Eileen Collins at eccollin3@msn.com , or call the church at 301-776-5151.

Esther Britton of Rapid City, S.D., was looking for a recipe for baked beans. She said that she really did not want to have to soak the beans overnight so she wanted a recipe that used canned beans instead of dried. Belle Woolf of Vass, N.C., sent in a recipe she had for making baked beans using canned pork and beans. Her recipe has the addition of several other ingredients, such as apples and cumin, that give this somewhat standard dish a twist. The beans were sweet and tangy and would be a perfect side dish for any type of barbecue.

There is something about the Fourth of July that demands a picnic. Sure, it's hot, and it seems like the ants, mosquitoes and lightning bugs have just been waiting for this opportunity to join us at table. But mainly, there are fireworks, and how can you resist eating under the glow? With that in mind, we put together a Maryland picnic menu featuring four tasty traditional dishes for the Fourth. The main dish is Maryland fried chicken, so-called because after it is rubbed with dry mustard and deep-fried, it is sprinkled with Old Bay, to give it that local feel.

Claudette Chambers of Baltimore requested recipes for real baked-in-the-oven baked beans. Louise Wagner of Sebastopol, Calif., responded with tester Laura Reiley's choice. Wagner wrote: "I found this in a Better Homes and Garden Best Budget Recipes magazine from 1973. Enjoy. We do." Boston Baked Beans Makes 8 servings 16 ounces (2 cups) dry navy beans 2 quarts cold water 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup molasses 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon dry mustard 4 ounces salt pork 1 medium onion, chopped Rinse beans; add to water in saucepan.

Baked beans are an all-American summer standby. Although a recipe for classic baked beans is simple - dried beans, water, salt, dry mustard, molasses, brown sugar and salt pork - that last ingredient typically sends the fat and sodium levels through the roof. Jean Anderson, author of The Nutrition Bible, estimates a serving of baked beans has nearly 400 calories, 13 grams of fat and more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium. This recipe for Picnic Beans makes several substitutions for the sake of nutrition and convenience.

Mary Angela Zerhusen of Millersville requested a recipe that she had lost for baked beans. "It was my favorite and was called Sandy's Baked Beans and was published in a magazine. If anyone has it, I'd appreciate receiving it." From Helen Szwast of Whitmore, Pa., came a positive response. "I happen to have this recipe so I thought I'd help this lady and pass it on." Baked Beans Makes 8 to 10 servings 1 pound (2 cups) small white navy beans 2 onions, sliced 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper hambone and leftover baked ham 2 cups ketchup 2 cups light-brown sugar 1/3 cup vinegar 2 to 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon dry mustard Soak beans, covered, overnight in enough cold water to cover.

By the time mid-January rolls around, everyone I know is feeling a bit blue. I call it the post-holiday- doldrums syndrome. Houses look bare with all the Christmas decorations put away, the weather is cold, the days often gray and, worst of all, bills have started to arrive. My remedy for this seasonal condition is to sit down, plan a menu of my favorite comfort foods and invite a few friends for a meal. Such get- togethers warm souls and lift spirits. For this January, I've decided on a barbecued meat loaf (made with a homemade barbecue sauce)

For all our celebrated food differences, Americans have some foods in common: baked beans, for example. They appear automatically at any picnic or potluck dinner, whether anyone is assigned to bring them or not.2 This recipe is from "The New Basics" cookbook.All-American baked beansServes 10 to 12.1 pound dried navy or great northern beans, or 2 (16-ounce) cans pork and beans, drained, liquid reserved8 ounces slab smoked bacon, cut into 1/4 -inch cubes1 cup chopped onions2 cloves garlic, chopped1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar, packed2 cups ketchup6 tablespoons maple syrup6 tablespoons dark molasses1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon black pepperRinse and pick through beans; soak overnight in a large pot of water.

Elementary schools Tomorrow: Hamburger or cheeseburger on roll with burger bar toppings, fresh vegetables with dip, watermelon, fruit fluff. Tuesday: Chicken nuggets with choice of sauces, baked beans, schoolmade bread, fresh fruit, cookie. Wednesday: Soft or hard shell taco with cheese, top-a-taco salad bar, corn, cantaloupe, pretzel twists. Thursday: Baked cheese sticks with dipping sauce, hot vegetable, fruit cup, fruit crisp. Friday: Pizza or pizzatas, green beans, fresh fruit, cookie.

Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque 5713 Harford Road, 410-444-6422. Open 11:30 a.m- 9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Barbecue draws a crowd, and on a recent sunny afternoon, fans of smoke hurried into the cramped confines of Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque. Fancy it isn't, but friendly it is. Regulars sitting at the counter stools interrupt their conversations about where they went to high school and what makes a good truck to advise newcomers on sauces ("you have to be a brave man to go for that triple X hot")

Esther Britton of Rapid City, S.D., was looking for a recipe for baked beans. She said that she really did not want to have to soak the beans overnight so she wanted a recipe that used canned beans instead of dried. Belle Woolf of Vass, N.C., sent in a recipe she had for making baked beans using canned pork and beans. Her recipe has the addition of several other ingredients, such as apples and cumin, that give this somewhat standard dish a twist. The beans were sweet and tangy and would be a perfect side dish for any type of barbecue.

Baked beans are an all-American summer standby. Although a recipe for classic baked beans is simple - dried beans, water, salt, dry mustard, molasses, brown sugar and salt pork - that last ingredient typically sends the fat and sodium levels through the roof. Jean Anderson, author of The Nutrition Bible, estimates a serving of baked beans has nearly 400 calories, 13 grams of fat and more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium. This recipe for Picnic Beans makes several substitutions for the sake of nutrition and convenience.

Well, yes, you could just open a can. But homemade baked beans offer much, much more. They offer a connection to the past. One of my favorite food writers, Della Lutes, opens her 1935 classic The Country Kitchen with an accounting of her father's birthday feast in 1882: "A great pan of beans was baked, nice, white Michigan [or New York State] beans, soaked overnight, parboiled in the early morning with a pinch of soda, then washed in cold water and boiled again with a slab of salt pork and an onion, until the outer skin burst.

Mother's Day is approaching and Lois Tindall is getting sentimental. About schmierkees. The retired Trenton, N.J., bookkeeper fondly remembers her mom making the Dutch dish on the day before Easter, painstakingly piling eggs, milk and ... She sighs. She can't remember the other ingredients. But they were wrapped in a piece of cheesecloth, hung from the kitchen spigot and drained over a bowl overnight. "The next morning it was all stuck together like scrambled eggs," Tindall says. "Mother shaped it into an oval, put it in the fridge.

Hands covered in hot dog juices and cold tomato soup, 11-year-old Joshua Geathers thought yesterday about the homeless man he has seen near the garbage containers behind his downtown Baltimore middle school. "We have a homeless person in the back of our school, and I think this food would really cheer him up," said Joshua, a sixth-grader at Mother Seton Academy. The hot dogs and tomato soup were two of the key ingredients in more than 450 casseroles prepared yesterday for the Our Daily Bread food kitchen by sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen and Mother Seton Academy.

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 522 Main St., will hold its sixth annual BBQ Cookoff on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. Entries will be judged in four categories: barbecue, baked beans, cole slaw and dessert. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children ages 5 to 12; tickets are available at the door. Proceeds from the BBQ Cookoff benefit Elizabeth House and the holiday food baskets parishioners at St. Philip's provide for more than 40 school families at Christmas. To enter the contest, contact Eileen Collins at eccollin3@msn.com , or call the church at 301-776-5151.

Regina A. Hatch of Bloomery, W.Va., wrote that many years ago she had a recipe for Boston brown bread that "I believe is cooked in a coffee can. I enjoyed eating it with baked beans." Ann Whelan of Oella responded. She wrote: "The following is an adaptation from that great American culinary bible, The Joy of Cooking." Boston Brown Bread Makes 2 loaves 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1 cup rye flour 1 cup whole-wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups buttermilk 3/4 cup dark unsulfured molasses 1 cup black raisins, roughly chopped Combine dry ingredients in a big bowl.

Elementary schools Tomorrow: Hamburger or cheeseburger on roll with burger bar toppings, fresh vegetables with dip, watermelon, fruit fluff. Tuesday: Chicken nuggets with choice of sauces, baked beans, schoolmade bread, fresh fruit, cookie. Wednesday: Soft or hard shell taco with cheese, top-a-taco salad bar, corn, cantaloupe, pretzel twists. Thursday: Baked cheese sticks with dipping sauce, hot vegetable, fruit cup, fruit crisp. Friday: Pizza or pizzatas, green beans, fresh fruit, cookie.

Claudette Chambers of Baltimore requested recipes for real baked-in-the-oven baked beans. Louise Wagner of Sebastopol, Calif., responded with tester Laura Reiley's choice. Wagner wrote: "I found this in a Better Homes and Garden Best Budget Recipes magazine from 1973. Enjoy. We do." Boston Baked Beans Makes 8 servings 16 ounces (2 cups) dry navy beans 2 quarts cold water 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup molasses 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon dry mustard 4 ounces salt pork 1 medium onion, chopped Rinse beans; add to water in saucepan.