MAINE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• 1. Rinse beans and pick over to make sure there are no stones. Place in large bowl and cover with water (at least 1" above beans). Let sit overnight.
• 2. In morning, parboil the beans until the skins crack when blown upon (maybe 10-15 minutes).
• 3. Cut onion into quarters and place in bottom of bean pot or a 4 quart casserole. Drain beans and pour over onion. Slice salt pork and lay on top of beans.
• 4. Mix sugar, molasses, mustard, pepper and salt with 2 cups of boiling water. Pour over pork and beans. If necessary, add more boiling water until beans are covered.
• 5. Bake, covered at 300 deg F for 6 hours, adding more boiling water as the beans cook (if necessary.
• 6. Serve with steamed brown bread or corn bread. NOTE: Beans can be cooked in crockpot but will be a bit more soupy. Not a bad thing. Just different. BEANS: Jacob's cattle beans are the best and I usually order 10# at a time online. They're worth it. May also use kidney beans, red beans or navy beans (my least favorite).