Baked beans !

I made baked beans for the first time ! They're delicious - baked in a mix of maple syrup, brown sugar, salt and tomato. Have divvied it up - some for lunch, and some for the freezer. It was really hard to find dried white beans - I finally found a packet yesterday at a local fruit store, labelled "American Beans". No idea what they actually were...

Celia,
I have some fat, white Runner Cannellini beans and Flageolet Beans in my refer right now. The Flageolet are smaller, mostly white with some pale green. I buy all my beans at http://www.ranchogordo.com
Their beans are always very fresh and taste wonderful. I never soak any of them, they are so fresh that after about 2 hours of cooking in water and maybe another hour in chili, soup or whatever you are making, they are perfect.

I'm on the other side of the world, Karen.. in Sydney Australia. Would be lovely to be able to get beans readily - I must get another packet of them and post a pic, so you can tell me what sort I bought.

C

...after about 2 hours of cooking in water and maybe another hour in chili...

Violation of Post #2. Chili does not have beans in it!

rwj

This is adapted from my Mom's recipe. She grew up in Maine, and these were often made in a bean pot buried in a pit of coals. Also known as bean-hole beans.

Baked Beans

2 cups dried navy beans (or one bag)
2-3 strips bacon
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ to ½ cup molasses (or to taste)
1 small onion chopped (about ½ cup)

Soak beans overnight (or precook in pressure cooker until beans are tender). Put beans and soaking or cooking liquid into 2-quart covered casserole dish. Add salt, pepper, mustard, onion and molasses and mix well. Top with bacon, cover and bake at about 300 deg. for 3-4 hours. Additional molasses, salt and pepper can be added at any time during cooking.

Notes: I generally take them out every 1-1 ½ hours to stir and check the seasoning. I start with ¼ cup molasses and add more until they are right. I substitute bacon for salt pork in the original recipe.

Read more here http://portlandme.about.com/library/blrecp1.htm

...after about 2 hours of cooking in water and maybe another hour in chili...

Violation of Post #2. Chili does not have beans in it!

rwj

Robert, I started to mention Post #2, but then I figured you needed the fun of replying.

Thanks Linda !

Celia

I posted this in the old forum a few years ago and made a batch over the holidays.
Grandpa LeMay's Baked Beans
Grandpa LeMay was my maternal grandfather, an old time French-Canadian. He actually used to bake these beans in an earthenware pot, overnight, in his coal furnace. This simple recipe makes beans that are absolutely wonderful.

1 lb. dried Pea Beans (or Navy beans)
1 small onion (peeled whole)
1 large piece salt pork (approx. ½ lb. - use bacon if you can't get salt pork)
1 tbsp. salt
1 cup molasses
½ tsp. baking soda

Soak beans overnight, changing water several times. Add baking soda. Cook on stove top until beans are tender. Drain. Preheat oven to 300deg. Put onion, salt pork, salt, molasses and beans in heavy pot with lid. Add water to cover beans. Bake for 6 - 8 hours with lid on. Remove lid for last hour.
Note: the onion disappears into the beans.

Howie, that looks fantastic, but doesn't the super long cooking time reduce the beans to mush ? The ones I made today were boiled, and the baked for two hours, and they were more than tender enough for me. With six hours or more, don't you end up with something akin to refried beans ?

Thanks, Celia

No, they do not turn to mush. In fact, they have some good texture. I don't know how hot it was in my grandfather's coal stove, but he would just set them on a ledge inside the door. At 300F it's hard to overcook beans. The recipe has been handed down through my mother, but 3-4 hours, as in Linda's recipe, which is similar, is probably adequate.

Celia, so long as you like to use maple syrup, here's a recipe we picked up during our years in Maine:

BAKED BEANS WITH MAPLE SYRUP:

1 lb (2 C) Jacobs Cattle Beans (or substitute dry beans of choice)
6 C Water
1/4 lb Salt Pork
1 Medium onion
1/2 tbl Dry mustard
5/8 C Dark amber maple syrup
1/2 tsp Pepper

Wash beans and soak in six cups of water overnight. In morning drain and rinse thoroughly. In six more cups of water place in pressure cooker and bring up pressure and immediately let it drop naturally. Or, place in saucepan with six cups of water, bring to boil, and simmer until beans are soft or split open when you blow on them (about an hour). Drain beans, reserving fluid. Peel onion, cut in half crosswise and place in bottom of bean pot. Pile beans on top of onion. Add maple syrup. In a two cup measure dissolve mustard and pepper with a little cooking fluid, and fill measure up to 1 3/4 cups. Add to beans. Slice side of salt pork right to left and front to back on opposite side from rind. Press sliced side down on top to beans. Bake covered in a 300 degree oven for 5 - 7 hours. Add additional liquid if necessary. Uncover last thirty minutes.

Thanks Carl. Though I have no idea what Jacobs Cattle Beans are - they sound fascinating though.

You know what I find interesting ? NONE of your recipes have tomato in it. Having been raised a Heinz and SPC baked beans girl, I can't imagine baked beans not in a tomato based sauce. Obviously that's not common in the US ?

Celia

You know what I find interesting ? NONE of your recipes have tomato in it. Having been raised a Heinz and SPC baked beans girl, I can't imagine baked beans not in a tomato based sauce. Obviously that's not common in the US ?

It is common in the US in general, just not in New England. You should really try one of these recipes and see the difference. Think baked ham and potato salad as sides.

I think I'll have to, Linda ! I don't like my BBs overly sweet though ? Does the bacon/speck offset that ?

I think I'll have to, Linda ! I don't like my BBs overly sweet though ? Does the bacon/speck offset that ?

The bacon and onions will help. You can also adjust the molasses or maple syrup to suit your taste. Start small and keep testing until it is the way you like it. Also, don't forget the salt!

Cool, Linda, thanks ! Will give it a go...

Celia

...after about 2 hours of cooking in water and maybe another hour in chili...

Violation of Post #2. Chili does not have beans in it!

rwj

My Chile has beans in it, always has, always will because I dislike Chile without beans. That's like saying pesto has to be made with basil or martini's have to have olives. I've never run with the pack and I don't expect to start now..... I kinda like doing my own thing, don't you?

Karen, you go girl !

I'm on your side, too, Karen. Arrgh, let's get the pitchforks and torches and martinis with lemon twists.

BTW, you mean "chili," not "chile," which is the pepper itself.

No, she means "chile". Because "Chili" does not have beans in it.

rwj

Wrong. I'd like to see you sneak "chile" (a member of the capsicum family) to mean chili with or without beans past a food editor. Even in Texas, poorer sections of the state used beans in chili con carne to supplement relatively expensive meat. For those interested in chiles go to the source: http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org to see some neat pictures and peruse the terminology.

Larry, have you seen the Dave Dewitt Pepper Pages ? Really fun website, with lots and lots of chile stuff in it. There's a very interesting article there at the moment about smoking Prime Rib (which I think ties into another current FLDG thread). I have a couple of Dewitt's cookbooks, and they are great ! It was there that I first came across the legendary JOE PERRY'S ROCK YOUR WORLD HOT SAUCES



Of course, none of this has anything to do with baked beans...

Not only is Dave a friend of mine, I have a number of his cookbooks, and I've written for his magazine, Fiery Foods and Barbeque. He does know his stuff about chiles and is known as "The Pope of Peppers."

His book, The Spicy Food Lover's Cookbook, has a chapter on wasabi that's based on an article I wrote for him. Dave also has a novel out now, Avenging Victorio.

Dave likes to grow unusual chiles in his greenhouse. He once bought a high-intensity light for starting the plants and left the box out in his driveway. He figures the mailman thought it was for growing marijuana because one day a number of police suddenly showed up at his house.

Larry, I LOVED that story - I read it on his website ! Too funny ! He's a very impressive guy - I've been tempted to pick up his DVD, but have been content until now with his website and his books. He wrote a great book about curry, which I just adore - some very authentic recipes there.

On the issue of wasabi, I came across something new at the sushi bar the other day - wasabi mayonnaise. They'd taken the traditional Japanese mayo and mixed it with wasabi, and the result was delicious.