By Michele Espinosa
According to my Aunt Lorrie Gauthier, my grandmother Flore Gauthier grew up on a farm near Durango, Colo. Her parents moved there in the 1880s from Boston.
Gauthier and her mom used peeled chicken feet for soup. They made blood sausage and head cheese from pigs they raised.
One of her indulgences was succulent pickled pig feet that she bought when she traveled three miles to the market in town to sell eggs, chickens and Steamed Brown Bread.
Every Sunday, Indian Baked Beans and Steamed Brown Bread are on the menu after church.
Indian Baked Beans
2 cups navy beans
½ pound salt pork, scalded, rind scraped
1 onion, sliced
¼ cup molasses
2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
Soak beans overnight in cold water. Simmer in same water until tender, between 1 and 2 hours. Drain and save the liquor (cooking liquid).
In a 2 quart pot layer the beans, salt pork and onion. Combine molasses, salt, pepper and dry mustard. Add just enough bean liquor to cover beans. Cover. Bake at 300 degrees a total of 8 hours. Remove cover last half of baking, add a little boiling water if beans seem dry. Serve hot.
Serves 6.
