Pick over and wash one pound of small red Mexican beans, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and add a pinch of soda. Cook for five minutes, drain and rinse, then cover with cold water, and cook slowly until soft. Melt two or three tablespoonfuls each of drippings and butter. When sizzling hot drop in two or three cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed. Keep stirring until well browned, then add two or three chopped and seeded green peppers and a large onion, sliced. Stir until cooked, then add a few tablespoonfuls of the boiled beans, mashing a few of them to form a thickening gravy. Add the rest of the beans with a portion of the liquor in which they were cooked, and three or four tomatoes, peeled and cut up. Simmer for an hour. When ready to serve, grate one-half pound of Mexican or Parmesan cheese and stir into the beans. Serve very hot.
STEWED KIDNEY BEANS
Soak a cupful of beans overnight in cold water. Drain, cover with cold water, add a chopped onion and a carrot, three or four slices of bacon, and a pinch of soda. Simmer until the beans are tender, drain, season with butter, salt, and pepper, and serve hot.
KIDNEY BEANS À LA CRÉOLE
Soak overnight a quart of kidney beans and cook until tender in boiling salted water. Drain, put a layer into a baking-dish with half a pound of bacon in one piece which has been boiled until tender and skinned, and a chopped onion. Cover with beans, season with salt and red pepper, fill the baking-dish with cold water, and bake slowly until the liquid is nearly absorbed.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS
Wash and pick over a quart of navy beans. Soak overnight in cold water to cover. In the morning drain, cover with fresh water, and heat slowly, keeping the water below the boiling point until the skins will burst when a spoonful is gently breathed upon. Drain the beans. Scald and scrape the rind of half a pound of fat salt pork, cut off one slice, and put into the bottom of the bean-pot. Fill the pot with the beans and bury the rest of the pork in it, scoring the rind deeply. Mix one teaspoonful of salt with one tablespoonful of molasses and three tablespoonfuls of sugar, add a cupful of boiling water, pour over the beans, and add more boiling water if necessary to fill the pot. Cover the bean-pot and bake in a slow oven for six or eight hours, adding boiling water as needed. During the last hour of cooking, remove the lid so that the top will be brown. A teaspoonful of mustard may be added with the other seasoning. This is the genuine Boston recipe. A sliced onion put in with the pork is considered by many to be an improvement.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS WITH TOMATO SAUCE
Prepare according to directions given for [Boston Baked Beans]. Chop an onion fine and cook it in a can of tomatoes for half an hour. Two hours before the beans are done, strain the tomato into the bean pot, adding a little at a time.