Who doesn't love baked beans? I always have a couple of cans in my cupboard, ready to mix with weiners for a retro protein-packed snack. When I planned for slow cooking day, baked beans was my first thought. Nothing is more quintessentially American or (let's be honest here) easier.

I've tried to make baked beans before, and gotten frustrated with the long cooking time. Not this weekend. I started composing my soul of slow cooking post and got into a zen cooking space. I looked up at least five recipes, and they were all almost exactly the same - all started with two cups of navy beans (or, variously, "Great Northern" or "Michigan Navy" beans, which are almost the same thing), 5-6 cups of water, onion, bacon or salt pork, molasses, ginger, mustard and salt.

There were variations, of course; a little Worchestershire Sauce here, a little ketchup there. I ended up using the recipe for Boston Baked Beans from The Gourmet Slow Cooker, by Lynn Alley. It turned out fabulously, and I have only one piece of advice: cook it for a really, really long time! I cooked mine in an oven, for at least eight hours. It was delicious and so flavorful.

As for the recipe, I didn't measure much. Here's how it works:

Boston Baked Beans, not really measured

Put two cups of navy beans, six cups of water, a handful of chopped onion (about 1/2 large yellow onion), six-ish ounces of salt pork, chopped into 1-inch lengths, a half-cup of dark molasses, a half-cup of maple syrup, a healthy-sized pinch each of ground cloves and ginger, some dry mustard and a palm-ful of salt into a slow-cooker. I used a bean pot from the thrift store (more on this later), but ended up sticking my bean pot in the oven at 300 degrees.

Let it cook, stirring every few hours and checking to make sure the beans haven't gotten too dry. Add more water as necessary.

Everyone in the family - my eight-month-old and three-and-a-half-year-old, included - loved these beans. I'll be making these from now on.

I just have one question, though. Baked beans recipes are so boilerplate. It doesn't take a genius to make delicious beans - it just takes time. Why are the Bush's people so concerned about their "secret recipe"? I'll bet it's just Fannie Farmer's recipe with a little more ketchup, or something. Baked beans are baked beans.

[photo Sarah Gilbert]