McCoy, Jack on fri 3 jan 97
I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
how such an item would hold up.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jack
Laurie Force on sat 4 jan 97
Hi Jack,
My mom had a bean pot and it went in the oven.
Laurie
On Fri, 3 Jan 1997, McCoy, Jack wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
> the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
> That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
> or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
> how such an item would hold up.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Jack
>
Vince Pitelka on sat 4 jan 97
>I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
>the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
>That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
>or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
>how such an item would hold up.
>Jack
Jack -
A bean pot is just a tall, casserole - sort of half-way between a casserole
and a covered jar. To my knowledge they are NEVER used on top of the stove.
Normally, they are used for long, slow baking in the oven. I have always
felt that this is a very practical shape. If someone receives one as a
gift, and doesn't have any particular need for a bean pot, then it works
just fine as a covered jar/catch-all. The same is not true of most
casseroles. Here's an idea to consider. When I was in production, I had
great success with a casserole/tureen combo. It was just a large "bean-pot"
shape which came with two lids - one with a cutout along the edge for the
ladle handle - for use as a tureen, and a solid lid for use as a casserole
or bean pot. And while I am rambling on this subject, ceramic ladles suck.
If you really want to make a ceramic ladle, figure out a way to affix it to
a wooden handle. The problem with ceramic ladles is that the handle is
really not very strong, and when one is lifting a ladle-full of soup or stew
out of the pot, and accidentally bumps the ladle-bowl against the rim of the
pot, the handle has the bad habit of breaking, dropping the full ladle back
into the pot, splashing soup all over your prize white table cloth and all
over the important dignitaries you have invited for dinner. Your reputation
and your status in the community are ruined and all reasonable prospects for
the future shattered in that brief instant. Avoid ceramic ladles.
On the subject of bean pots - I had a friend who used to bake beans in an
antique chamber pot covered with tin foil. It worked just fine, and the
beans really did taste OK, but I was never quite able to resolve the
awareness of what the chamber pot had been used for previously.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@Dekalb.Net
Phone - home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801
Appalachian Center for Crafts, Smithville TN 37166
Christine Fennimore on sat 4 jan 97
At 10:45 AM 1/3/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
>the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
>That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
>or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
>how such an item would hold up.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks,
>Jack
>
Jack:
I recently had a couple of requests for bean pots. I made mine from
porcelain and traditionally they are used to bake beans in an oven for an
extended period of time at a low temperature (250 degrees for about 5
hours). I tested one before I shipped any out and they seemed to hold up
very well. I am going to try stoneware next as one customer wanted a
larger version and I have better luck with stoneware when it needs to be
large, but I suspect it should still not be a problem as baked beans are
usually made in the oven and not over direct flame.
Chris Fennimore
Native American Rights Fund
Boulder, Colorado
fennimor@spot.colorado.edu
Cobalt1994@aol.com on sat 4 jan 97
Bean pots were historicly taken by their owners(full of beans)to the local
baker's where they were placed in the oven with the bread and baked, long
and slow. There's an article in CM within the last year or 2 about bean pots.
Jennifer inVT
Fiona.Beaumont on sat 4 jan 97
I know this is a stupid question, but what's a bean pot?
I have this horrible feeling that its going to be something like "a
pot to cook beans in" ? If so, wouldn't a saucepan do the job? Or is
a bean pot special in some way?
Yours, in ignorance!
Fiona
Dunstable, UK
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Bean pots
Author: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU%smtp at ccx400uk
Date: 02/01/97 19:08
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
how such an item would hold up.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jack
Nan Dufresne on sat 4 jan 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
>the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
>That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
>or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
>how such an item would hold up.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks,
>Jack
>
> The bean pots I know of were stoneware with an albany slip glaze.
The bean mixture was stirred into the pot which was set in a slow oven to
bake for 12 to 18 hrs. Liquid was added as needed. They seemed to last
forever...in fact I still have one. The long,slow cooking obviated thermal
shock, I suppose. Guess I should mention that the lid was left in place
until the last 30-45 minutes. A wood stove wooould be ideal, but my gas
stove does about the same thing...cooks the beans and adds a little heat to
a cool house.
N
NNan Dufresne in NE Wisconsin
ken tighe on sat 4 jan 97
Bean pots, at least the ceramic bean pots I've seen and used, are intended
for use in the oven, hence "Boston Baked Beans." I am in my kitchen right
now looking at a rather old and typical bean pot. It's essentially a
round, rather deep covered casserole-- about eight inches deep, 10-12
inches in diameter in the girth. The opening at the top is a good 5
inches. I have a large hand and my fist fits into the top easily. The lid
has a good knob to grab (while wearing a hot-mit). Two good handles on the
side are there as well-- again ample enough to grab wearing mits. It's
just a good, functional pot for baked beans. --Ken
Kurt Unterschuetz on sun 5 jan 97
Nan Dufresne wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
> >the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
I searched for a bean pot web page to see what a bean pot looks like. I
found this:
http://www.nhweb.com/Uniquely_Yankee/uy010.htm
Kurt Unterschuetz
SchatziBoyz Pottery
Marengo, IL USA
Bill Aycock on sun 5 jan 97
At 09:51 AM 1/4/97 EST, you wrote: ***in part ***
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I know this is a stupid question, but what's a bean pot?
>
> I have this horrible feeling that its going to be something like "a
> pot to cook beans in" ? If so, wouldn't a saucepan do the job? Or is
> a bean pot special in some way?
>
> Fiona
> Dunstable, UK
>
Fiona- thats about it, but it isn't a simple "bean boiling", but a slow
bake, and the ingredients are much more that just beans. In fact, there are
some families in which the "baked bean" recipe is a valued heirloom.
Several of the Clayarters have mentioned oven baking, but some of my
earliest memories include the sight of a Bean Pot on the back of my Aunts
wood burning stove--- Always there! In her case, the pot was rarely
cleaned, and always full and ready to eat. It was moved around on the
cast-iron stove top to get to the right temperature. This was on a working
farm, and there were times when grabbing a bowl of beans was an easy, quick,
way to get a bite . The cook (my Aunt or my Grandmother) checked the pot for
condition and content, and would add to the mix, stir it up, and put it on a
hotter spot from time to time, to cook in the addition.
I know- by todays standards, it is an unsanitary concept, but I dont
remember anyone getting food poisoning. The pot was about as high as it was
wide, had a lid with a knob high enough to be just cool enought to touch,
and was an uneven brown color. It was far enough back in time that my memory
cant say whether it was Albany slip, or baked on bean drips, but it was
probably Albany. Stangely enough, I do remember that the clay color on the
bottom was a rusty cream color, like a cream body with a little terra-cotta
mixed in. it was large enough that none of the children could move it.
Bill- now on Persimmon hill, about 400 miles from where those memories were
stored.
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill --- Woodville, Alabama, USA
--- (in the N.E. corner of the State)
also-- W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr
Don Sanami on sun 5 jan 97
Laurie, Bean pots may be made of almost any clay altough I usually make
them of terra cotta or any local brick clay. Not usually fired above cone
6,(Lower is best.) Glazed on the interior with any compatible,none
lead,non barium,glaze. Even ground brown bottle are used in many
countries. These pots are never placed on electric or gas burners but may
be placed at the side of a woodstove without incident. The pots are
usually used within the oven although thew old "Down Home" method was to
dig a hole.Place rocks in the bottom. Build a large fire to heat the
rocks. After the fire had died,the pot with beans was placed in the
hole.Covered with its cover and the hole covered,to allow the beans to
bake. Time about 6 hours. On Sat, 4 Jan 1997, Laurie Force wrote:
Recipe: Soak California pea beans,white beans,bavy beans,kidney
beans,Jacobs Cattle Beans...whatever, over night afyer washing the
beans. From this point on,the recipes have so many variations,I hesitate
for fear of attack by bean=eaters. However: For a two quart pot add the
beans to about 1" below the top. Add two tspns dry mustard. One small
onion. 1/4cup of brown sugar. A hefty piece of salt pork. Cover with
water to the surface of the beans. Place
the cover on the bean-pot and bake in the oven for about three hours.
Remove thepot cover and finish baking..
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hi Jack,
> My mom had a bean pot and it went in the oven.
> Laurie
>
> On Fri, 3 Jan 1997, McCoy, Jack wrote:
>
> > ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> > I've read that bean pots were a popular many item years ago. But for
> > the life of me I haven't found any reference as to how they were used.
> > That is, were they placed on top of a stove with direct heat underneath
> > or were they placed in an oven. I'm concerned about thermal shock and
> > how such an item would hold up.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jack
> >
>
Jim Horvitz on sun 5 jan 97
I read an interesting detailed article about beanpots. Contact www.kovel.com
they are Americas foremost writers on collectibles.
Gerry Barbe on sun 5 jan 97
Egads,
I thought Baked Beans were as common as chocolate cake! The old
joke was:
Beans, beans the musical fruit
The more you eat 'em the more you....(well you know)
When we were kids, baked beans were an important part of pot luck
meals. The woman who could make the best baked beans was always the
hero of the day. Here in Ailsa Craig, baked beans are still an
important part of a buffet, and they don't come out of a can.
Here' s and old recipe that you can still use:
Wash two cups of navy beans and soak overnight in 12 cups of water.
Drain beans and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil, and simmer,
uncovered, until skin splits when blown upon.
Drain and place in a BEAN CROCK or large casserole.
Bury 1 small onion in the center of the beans.
Mix together and pour over beans:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
Insert over surface: 1/4 pound salt pork
Add sufficient boiling water to cover beans. Bake, covered, in a
250F oven for 8 hours, adding a small amount of boiling water from
time to time so that beans do not become dry. Uncover during last 30
minutes of baking.
When you see the recipe, you know what the pot is for. Don't make
the pot too high or it won't fit into the oven.
Marilyn in Ailsa Craig
Where all you can see for miles are bean fields
Marilyn & Gerry Barbe
Ailsa Craig, On, CANADA
Don Goodrich on thu 9 jan 97
I sure am enjoying reading all the bean pot lore (and thanks for the
recipe, Marilyn). It occurred to me that a modern variant of the bean pot is
the crock pot, and that it's a suitable candidate for the potter's
repertoire. The major design consideration is whether the bottom of the pot
fits well on the heating base. Aside from this, we can embellish or customize
to suit our needs or the whim of our customer. I've made a couple of them:
one to replace a broken original, another to replace a too-small original (I
use this one to store/melt wax for dipping candles and the original was just
too short).
The low temperatures of the heating elements in the bases allow one some
confidence that stoneware or ovenware pots won't crack due to the heat,
unlike the problems inherent in flameware.
Anyone know of any suppliers that sell the heating bases without the pots?
Don Goodrich in cold and snowless Zion, Illinois
Lili Krakowski on wed 15 jan 97
Great fun that there are some people who don't know about baked beans.
Reminds me of a warning I got from an American friend in London that
Haggis is a REAL DISH, and one was not to express astonishment when its
making is described.
Apparently the Puritans did not cook on the Sabbath. They invented
dishes that could sit in the oven or hearth, buried or banked in the
ashes from Saturday night to Sunday after Church. Baked beans were one
of these dishes. (In other words Baked Beans are Puritant cholent!)
The pots generally were round --much like little brown teapots without
handles and spouts, with a wide bottom for stability.
Lili Krakowski lkkrakow@edisto.cofc.edu
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