Boston Baked Beans

1. Soak beans overnight in a bowl of cold water.
2. Drain the beans. Put the beans into a large pot and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours. Drain and reserve the liquid.
3. Preheat oven to 325 F.
4. Stir the drained beans, bacon, onion and garlic in a 2 quart bean pot or casserole dish.
5. In a small saucepan, combine salt, pepper, mustard, tomato, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, molasses and brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil then pour it over the beans. Pour in just enough of the reserved bean water to cover the beans. Cover the dish with a lid or aluminium foil.
6. Bake for 2 to 3 hours, until beans are tender. Remove the lid halfway through cooking, adding more liquid if necessary to prevent the beans from becoming too dry.
7. Serve with cornbread or Boston brown bread.

Variations:
1. To make this recipe vegetarian, omit the bacon and add one or two slices of vegetarian ham.
2. To make it vegan, go one step further and eliminate the Worcestershire sauce as well.
3. I don’t like my beans too sweet, so you can dial down the brown sugar as you like.
4. You can pile all the ingredients into a slow cooker instead of a pot in step 4. Then make the sauce in step 5, add it and cook on low for 8 hours.