swagin n, also attrib |ˈswegɪn| Also sp swagan, swagen, swagon, swagun, swogun [Etym unknown] chiefly ME
Bean soup—freq in comb bean swagin.
1867 Atlantic Mth. 20.565 ME, Holt was cook that season, and Holt could n’t be beaten on his swagan. . . Beans and pork and bread and molasses,—that ’s swagan,—all stirred up in a great kettle, and boiled together. 1890 Shorey Story ME Fifteenth 12 (as of 1862), Cooked rations were served from the ship’s galleys. A regular and perhaps the “favorite diet,” was a compound known to the “bill of fare” as bean-soup, but which the boys were wont to characterize as “bean-swagen.” 1909 DN 3.408 nME, Bean swāgin. . . A bean soup. 1914 DN 4.81 ME, nNH, Swagin, swogun. . . Bean-soup, in lumber-camps. Ibid 151 ceME, Bean swagun. . . Bean porridge. 1918 Daily Kennebec Jrl. (Augusta ME) 19 Mar 6/3, He should use his damaged peas for soup, his beans for swagin, feed the balance to the hens, to the end that nothing may be wasted. 1920 Collier’s 10 Apr 10 ME, A youth in the dingle, the lean-to of the cook’s camp, was waiting till the swagon stew was ready for the table. 1950 WELS Suppl., Bean swagen—bean soup. Used in Maine lumber camps. 1966 DARE Tape ME19, [Loggers] had baked beans, pea swagin [ˈpi ˌsweɪgᵻn]. [FW:] What’s that? [Inf:] Beans and water. [1967 DARE FW Addit ME, Oatmeal swagen—drink made on farms from molasses, ginger, a little sugar, vinegar, and oatmeal. [DARE Ed: This is a typical recipe for switchel n, and the Inf has prob confused the two similar words.]] 1973 Standish Keep Cooking 104 ME, To Make Maine Succotash. . . It just so happens that in Maine we combine cooked corn cut from the cob with cooked shell beans. Add cream or milk, a piece of butter, salt and pepper to taste. . . Whether you call them stewed beans or live in the north country and have always referred to them as Bean Swagin—pronounced Sway-gin—this favorite Maine food was popular with Maine lumberjacks.