Henry Raymond
Fairfax News => Current News & Events => Topic started by: Henry on July 17, 2005, 09:02:35 AM
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(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/beanhole_050717.jpg)
Al Woodward (left) and his brother, Jim, both of Fairfax, hoist a cast iron pot full of beans atop a fire pit as they begin to cook Friday. After the beans were boiled and flavored, they were placed in the pit, buried, and cooked for 24 hours. Photo was by Glenn Russell of the Burlington Free Press
Out of their ground and into their mouths
Published: Sunday, July 17, 2005
By Victoria Welch
Free Press Staff Writer
GRAND ISLE -- Al Woodward leaned over a large iron kettle sitting in the driveway of the Grand Isle Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon. As he pulled off the heavy cover, the scent of maple and molasses immediately hit nearby noses. Chunks of salt pork floated on the surface of thick, chestnut-hued sauce. Woodward dipped into the mass with a large soup ladle and stirred.
After 24 hours of preparation, baking and hopeful thinking, the main dish for the church's 12th annual Bean Hole Bean Supper was ready for the mass of diners that withstood Saturday's humidity to form a line near the church basement door. The diners were hungry and the sight of Woodward and his three iron kettles made many smile with anticipation.
Woodward, 73, has become known among many in the island town as The Bean Man in the last decade. The Fairfax resident and his wife Dot brought the little-known process of bean-hole bean preparation to Grand Isle in 1994, entering into partnership and friendship with local couple Don and Fay Chamberlin.
The Chamberlins organize and promote the church fundraiser each year, and the Woodwards arrive with the beans, kettles and the bean hole know-how that draw hundreds of people each July. The meal also includes salty pulled pork, salads and desert.
"Yes, it's a tremendous amount of work, but working together far outweighs that work," said Don Chamberlin, 74. "Something like this is how you get to know how you truly work together as a team."
With 500 diners expected Saturday, the supper required large amounts of planning and heavy lifting. The fixings for the meal included 110 pounds of pulled pork, large coolers full of potato salad and coleslaw, cases of ice cream and dozens of cupcakes, Kay Chamberlin said.
And then there were the legumes -- 75 pounds of dried yellow-eyed beans. The beans were poured into the 100-pound, approximately two-foot-wide kettles and placed over a cement-lined pit full of charring wood to boil for an hour Friday afternoon. After boiling, Dot added molasses, maple syrup, pork and "special secret ingredients" and let Al cover up the kettles.
Two strong men are needed to wield the metal bars and chains used to lift the kettles and lower them into the two-foot-deep pit, which is then covered with layers of tin and sand. The beans are left to bake for 24 hours. Then the kettles are cleared off, pulled from the pit -- strong backs are required again -- uncovered and served.
Seasoning the beans still makes Dot, 70, a little apprehensive.
"I do, I still get so nervous about it!" she said with a laugh. "You can't smell it, can't see it, can't taste it, you just have to hope. I always breathe easier when they come out of the hole."
The practice, largely foreign to Vermont, was picked up by the Woodwards 27 years ago during a trip to Maine. Al Woodward said he and his wife attended a bean hole supper that served about 1,200 people and decided to bring the fundraising idea to Vermont to benefit the Fairfax Baptist Church. The event now draws about 350 people each September, Dot Woodward said.
The Chamberlins heard about it and asked if a similar event would be possible in Grand Isle. The rest, the two couples said as they watched the fire lick over the edge of the pit Friday, is bean hole history.
But the foursome said they're preparing to hand over that history to others. Fay Chamberlin, 73, chairwoman of the Grand Isle event since its inception, hopes to find enthusiastic, younger people willing to take over the planning. Al Woodward acknowledged that the heavy lifting that comes with the job has become harder.
"It is a lot of work, it's a lot of heavy work," he said. "And I'm not getting any younger."
The preparations drew a group of attentive viewers on Friday, most of whom said they had tasted Woodward's beans before, but never knew what went into the process.
"It's completely different from what I expected," said Beverly Richardson, a Burlington resident whose son lives in Grand Isle. "It's neat. I've seen a pig roast, but never anything like this. It makes you think way back to when everyone would help their neighbors, good jolly fun."
Although it's unusual in Vermont, Don Chamberlin said the bean hole tradition highlights traits already familiar in Grand Isle. It requires patience and "Yankee ingenuity, but it can be scary due to the fact that the old man upstairs has to help out." The beans need to be baked rain or shine, he said, but it's sure a lot easier to do in the sunshine.
As the Woodwards heaped beans and salt pork onto plates, Venita McChesney said she appreciated the labor that went into her dinner.
"This is delicious, excellent," the Rouses Point, N.Y., resident and first-time bean supper attendee said as she finished the last of the smoky, maple-laced meal. "Everyone was really friendly. And wow, this was really good."
Contact Victoria Welch at 651-4849 or vwelch@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com