Put one and one-half pints of medium-sized navy beans into a quart
bean-pot; fill it with water, and let it stand overnight. In the
morning, pour off the water, and cover the beans with fresh water in
which is mixed one table-spoonful of molasses. Put a quarter of a pound
of pickled pork in the centre, leaving a quarter of an inch of pork
above the beans. Bake them eight hours with a steady fire, and, without
stirring the beans, add a cupful of hot water every hour but the last
two. Earthen pots with narrow mouths are made expressly for baking
beans. Cooking them in this manner, without first boiling them, renders
each bean perfectly whole and at the same time thoroughly cooked. When
done, place the pork in the centre of a platter, with the beans around
it.