Old Fashioned Baked Beans

1 pound dry white pea beans
OR
5 1/2 cups cooked white pea beans
4 cups cold water
1 small to medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup mild-flavour molasses
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 pinch black pepper
Hot water, as needed
1/4 pound salt pork, sliced * see note
OR
1/4 pound bacon, sliced * see note
Servings: 8
Soak beans by a method listed in the glossary. Pick and rinse beans. Add 4 cups of cold water, cover, heat to boiling, simmer 30 minutes. Drain, keeping liquid.

Place sliced onion in bottom of 6-cup (1. 5 L) casserole. Mix seasonings, and turn into pot. Add beans, and hot liquid or water to cover. Arrange pork slices on top.

Cover and bake in slow oven 250ºF (135º C) for seven hours. At end of four hours, remove one cup of beans, mash, then stir back into remaining beans carefully. Cover and continue to bake. Add liquid several times to keep beans just covered. One hour before serving, remove cover to allow salt pork to brown.