Fèves Au Lard Traditional Quebec Navy Beans Recipes

FèVES AU LARD (TRADITIONAL QUEBEC NAVY BEANS)

Steps:

• Put the beans and water into a jar with a lid for 18 hours (counting the cooking time, that's 5 hours later than you want to be eating them the next day, so if you want your beans at 5 pm on Tuesday, soak them at 10 pm on Monday. It's ok to give or take a couple hours, but I'd rather give than take.).
• When the 18 hours are almost up, finely dice the fatback, discarding the skin, and dice the onion.
• Put the diced fatback in the pressure cooker, lid off, and cook it on medium heat until it starts to sizzle.
• While you're waiting for it to sizzle, drain the beans, reserving the water.
• Also, mix together the molasses, ketchup, mustard and savory in a small bowl, adding a little bean water so it can pour easily.
• When the fatback sizzles, stir it a little and add the beans.
• Then, add the onion, about half of the water and the condiments and stir well.
• Add more bean water just until it covers the beans, using it to rinse the remaining condiments from the small bowl if necessary.
• Put the lid on (with the high pressure valve, not the one for vegetables), put on high heat until steam comes out and reduce the heat to the lowest you can without stopping the whistling sound (for me it's a little lower than medium).
• Cook that way for 40 minutes, take the cooker off the heat and wait at least 20 minutes before opening it.
• Troubleshooting and tips : if there's a significant amount of liquid left on the bottom of the cooker, stir the beans, screw the lid back, put on high heat, let the pressure build and take off the stove as soon as it whistles. Then, wait 10 minutes before opening.
• Also, beans are at their best when reheated. Once refrigerated, always stir them well before serving the first leftover portion, so as to distribute the sauce that will have settled to the bottom and hardened.

FEVES AU LARD (BAKED BEANS AND PORK)

Steps:

• 1. Wash beans under cold running water. Soak the beans in 6 cups water for 6 to 8 hours; this can be done overnight. Rinse well.
• 2. Place the beans in a pan, cover with water and boil 10 minutes. Drain in a colander.
• 3. Place the beans in a large cast iron or earthenware pot, add salted pork, cut in pieces or left whole, brown sugar, molasses, salt, mustard, ketchup, onion and 3 cups water. Cook covered in the oven for about 6 hours at 250F.
• 4. This dish can be frozen. If more liquid is needed, add cold water to cold beans or hot water to hot beans.

FèVES AU LARD (WHITE BEANS WITH BACON)

Steps:

• Soak beans for 24 hours, then rinse thoroughly.
• Preheat oven to 120°C or 250°F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
• In a large casserole (large enough for 9 cups of liquid) mix all ingredients, add pepper and add the water (up to 2 inches above the beans).
• Bring to a boil, then remove from stove, cover and place cassserole pot in the oven for about 7 hours, stirring every hour, until beans are tender. Add water if necessary, so that everything stays well covered.

FèVES AU LARD (BAKED BEANS)

Steps:

• 1. Strain and rinse the beans.
• 2. Add the beans to a pot with 5 cups of water.
• 3. Boil for thirty minutes
• 4. Transfer the beans and water to an ovenproof casserole
• 5. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and bake in a 250ºF oven for 7-8 hours.