June 04

George William Frederick's (George Ill's) Birthday

Nigel Hawthorn as George III in The Madness of King George

The news of George Ill's death was a cause of celebration the United States. It was George's tyrannical and obstinate policies that precipitated the American revolution. George's attitude towards the taxation without representation issue was "every man who does not agree with me is a traitor ..." George was so disturbed over his loss of the colonies, that he almost abdicated the throne.

Some of George's obstinacy may have been due to a hereditary metabolic disease called porphyria which caused him to experience a number of irrational episodes, including hallucinations during which he thought that the trees in Kew and Windsor were his ambassadors and he would have daily meetings and conversations with them. These hallucinations became so increasingly severe that George's son, the Prince of Wales and the future George IV, was appointed regent while George III continued to deteriorate.

One of George's more unusual proclamations was to establish an annual baked bean day in England. George first tasted baked beans when he was inspecting the construction of a military complex in Woolwich. The construction workers were eating bacon and baked beans for lunch and the king was intrigued by the odor of the beans cooking in the communal. pots and asked to taste them. He enjoyed them so much that he began having them served regularly at the palace and they soon became they became known as George's Bacon and Beans.

The popular playThe Madness of King George by Alan Bennett brilliantly portrayal of George III's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his son, particularly focusing on the period around the Regency Crisis of 1788. Bennett's play was adapted for the 1994 film starring Nigel Hawthorn as George III and Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte.

The English version of baked beans differs from the American version which substitutes salt pork for the bacon and adds molasses to the beans, a trick that the settlers leaned from the Narragansett and Penobscot Indians who cooked their beans with deer fat and maple syrup. The English version also uses beer or ale as a cooking liquid which gives the final product a remarkably different taste.

So to celebrate George's birthday, we suggest making his famous beans and bacon and watching the film The Madness of King George .

King George's Bacon and Beans

Ingredients

2 cups navy beans
1/2 lb bacon
1 cup beer
1/2 cup chopped onions

1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 TB Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1. Wash and soak beans overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 325º F.
3. Cut bacon into 1 inch pieces and fry in a skillet over 1mediun heat with onions until the bacon is partially cooked,
    but not crisp.
4. Drain and reserve 2 TB of bacon fat.
5. Combine beer, bacon, onions, bacon fat, beans, salt, pepper, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Cook over  medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer. Cover and bake for seven hours. Uncover
    and bake for an additional hour.

Serves 4