New England Baked Beans

May 20, 2020

For the past year, I have been working on the kitchen staff for a nursing home in my community. I got the job so I could put myself through college. However, over time, I have begun to care about the people who come into the kitchen to eat. I always want my folks to eat well and be happy.

My job, no matter how menial some might think it is, instills great pride. Since the coronavirus has entered the United States, my nursing home, like others worldwide, has been severely impacted by this disease outbreak. Since March of 2020, I have seen a lot of people die. These people, at one time, were valued members of someone’s family, school, company. What bothers me the most is that these people could not have their families with them as they died. I spend every day worrying for the residents and for the safety of my friends, family, colleagues and those I do not know.

My love for history has always kept me grounded in personal times of anxiety and struggle, like now. I study history, so when I think about struggle, I realize that it is not an unfamiliar human condition. Since I was a child, I loved to learn about history. It did not matter if it was American, Asian, European or African history, my interest in the past has never wavered. At 22 years old, I still feel the same enthusiasm I did when I was a child.

I am from Massachusetts, one of the first states. When I knew I had to come up with a recipe from the past, I said, bingo! I must do a classic New England Yankee recipe! My New England roots are not immediately obvious to others. My last name is Sacco, which is Italian. I grew up in an Italian and Irish town and almost everybody I know is Italian. This past winter I did my DNA test. I am 77% Italian.

However, my Yankee roots are the part of my family history that my family talks about the most. My nana is English and Irish. Our ancestors were among the first settlers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the 1600s. I am a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. Even more fascinating, I had ancestors fight in the American Revolution on the side of the Rebels. I had ancestors on the Mayflower and my grandmother is a member of The Mayflower Society. America in the 18th century was a place my ancestors lived, worked, loved and everything else. That America was certainly a different place than it is today.

American colonists rebelled against British rule; their rag-tag militia was no match for the well trained British regulars. In September of 1777, the British seized Philadelphia and attempts by the Continental Army to retake the city were thwarted. In December of 1777, General George Washington ordered his men to make their winter quarters at a place known as Valley Forge. From December 1777 to June of 1778, Washington’s soldiers were basically trapped at Valley Forge. Food, water and other supplies ran low. Over 1,000 soldiers died at Valley Forge that winter from starvation, disease and the cold. The others were basically stuck there. They used the time to hone their skills at drilling, musketry and fighting. With help from the French, the Continental Army became well-trained soldiers and it seems like that winter was part of the bigger picture of American independence.

The winter camp at Valley Forge reminds me of the current lock down. Just like Valley Forge, we face disease and hunger, too, due to people being out of work. Like the Continental Army, we are a quarantined society. Perhaps we should spend less time worrying and use this time to work on improving ourselves. Hopefully, like the Continental Army, we will come out of this better than we went into it. I know I am trying to.

At nursing homes and in hospitals across the world, the small army of nurses and other staff members work tirelessly to provide the best care for their patients. All the while, our healthcare professionals have an increased risk of contracting the coronavirus. If you know any nurses or other healthcare workers, keep them in your minds and hearts as we attempt to get through our "Valley Forge" together.

This dish is dedicated to those who have died of COVID-19 and to the wonderful families that they have left behind. This dish, like those who have died, is about legacy and tradition, and about families and communities.

Ingredients:

● 3 cups beans (yellow-eyed or pea beans)

● 1⁄4 cup molasses

● 1⁄4 cup brown sugar

● 1 teaspoon dry mustard

● 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper

● 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

● 1⁄2 pound lean pork scored (scant)

● 1 whole small onion

Instructions:

Soak the beans in water (to more than cover) overnight, or parboil beans in the morning. It is not necessary to do both. If you parboil them, cover the beans well with water and bring to a boil; simmer for five minutes, drain, and rinse beans in colander under the hot water faucet.

Place whole onion and scored salt pork in the bottom of the bean pot; cover with parboiled beans. Mix molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, pepper and salt and enough hot water to mix well. Add to beans with enough hot water to cover beans. Place a cover on the pot and bake in a hot oven , 400 degrees, until they begin to boil; lower the temperature to 325 degrees until they are done. Add extra hot water as necessary. Keep cover on for 3 hours then remove cover, and bake 3 hours longer at 325. Remove onion and serve.

Alex Sacco graduated from Salem State in May 2020 with a B.A. in History.

This post is part of a series of student reflections by Salem State's Spring 2020 Introduction to Public History students.