Mystic Baked Beans

Mystic, Connecticut was once a bustling port filled with whaling ships set to embark on dangerous, and lucrative, voyages across the world.

A ship’s homecoming after such a voyage brought promise not only of valuable spermaceti, which was used in cosmetics and candles, but also of more exotic cargo, like tropical fruit and spices. Seafaring husbands would often bring their wives these goods from far-off places like New Zealand and Japan, and the suppers enjoyed on the eve of a ship’s return were indeed festive affairs.

Charles W. Morgan Whaling Ship out of Mystic Connecticut
Mystic’s most famous whaling ship: The Charles W. Morgan

Sometimes, if a whaler was lucky enough to have enjoyed a bit of leisure on the high seas, he would also present his wife with a crimping wheel or birdcage delicately carved from whalebone. Known as scrimshaw, these intricate works of whalebone were treasured by families of seafaring men.

But the return of a whaling ship was a special occasion. The lives of Mystic families were usually far more austere. Sunday heralded a roast beef, or some boiled fowl. The rest of the week saw stews of beans and root vegetables, with a piece or two of salt pork thrown in for flavor.

On the busiest day of the week, wash day, when the stove was taken over by boiling pans of water and steaming irons, only the simplest dish was served — usually a sweet and savory pot of baked beans. Here’s a traditional recipe, as recorded in The Mystic Seaport Cookbook, for a tasty pot of baked beans from an old seafaring family.

Sea Cook’s Baked Beans

2 pounds dried beans
1/2 to 3/4 pound salt pork
1 apple
1 medium-sized onion (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Soak beans in cold water overnight. In the morning, parboil until skins crack. Transfer to beanpot and add salt pork cut down to the rind in cubes. Cut the apple into chunks and bury them and the onion in the beans. Mix sugar, molasses, mustard, pepper and salt with about 2 cups boiling water and pour over beans and pork. Bake in a 300 degree F. oven for 6 hours. Add water when necessary. If you like the pork crisp, take off the cover for the last 30 minutes or so. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

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Two Cooks and a Cabbage: A Film from Austerity Britain

Here’s a 1941 instructional film from the Ministry of Food (see an earlier post on the Ministry of Food here). Entitled Two Cooks and a Cabbage, it champions the cause of frugality in the wartime kitchen.

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Wheatless and Sugarless Wartime Cooking: Oat Flour Muffins

During the winter of 1917-1918, The Mrs. Farmer’s School of Cookery developed a collection of recipes to aid the American housewife in conserving meat, wheat, sugar and fats. These austerity recipes were tested in the school’s “Wartime Cookery” class.

The Mrs. Farmer’s School of Cookery was started in 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts. It offered classes to both gentlewomen and housewives on the rudiments of cooking and household management. The Wartime Cookery class was just one of many classes offered at the school, which later came to specialize in convalescent diets.

 
 
Fanny Farmer testing wheatless and sugarless wartime baking recipes
Mrs. Fanny Farmer testing wartime recipes

 

Here’s a recipe for oat flour muffins from Mrs. Farmer’s Wartime Cookery class. Oat flour produces a delightfully light texture in baked goods. Should you not find oat flour in your area, grind oatmeal in a coffee grinder until fine.

Oat Flour Muffins
2 1/2 cups oat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon melted shortening
Mix dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add milk, the egg, molasses and shortening. Bake in buttered gem [muffin] pans twenty-five minutes [in a medium oven]. This may be baked in a bread pan and sliced when cold.
 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

Would you rather receive The Austerity Kitchen by email? Then sign up for my Substack.

And, if you’d like to help the Kitchen keep cookin’, please consider picking up copies of my books, Why Fast? and Fermented Foods.

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