Potlucks and picnics often have one thing in common, baked beans. Someone always provides some variation on the theme. There are times when you get lucky and the baked beans are thick, rich, and full of molasses and bacon. Other times the beans are slightly watery, tomato-tangy, and full of ground beef. Inevitably I have to try them. Most of the time I’m disappointed.
This is where my contrariness comes out. Seriously, it’s this place. Ignore every other place you thought I was being contrary,
I have serious opinions on baked beans. And this is where it gets confusing. I like Bush’s Baked Beans, but only some of the varieties. And I don’t eat any other canned baked beans. Bean recipes that call for tomato soup are not my favorite, but recipes with ketchup are ok. I like beans with molasses and brown sugar, but not honey. Bacon and chunks of beef are good, but ground meat is not. I like onions in my beans, but not large chunks. Some mixture of beans is ok, but never in a soupy base. Finally, I prefer my beans cooked to the point where they are nearly melted, but only if there is plenty of molasses.
It’s a lot, I know, but I warned you, I have opinions and even then it doesn’t always hold true. I had some baked beans at Old World Wisconsin last week that were the sweet mushy sort of bean I like, but had no molasses in them. They were delicious.
My husband read over my shoulder as I was typing this and said it was funny.
“Why funny?” I asked because I was completely serious about my take on beans.
“Because it’s kind of “When Harry Met Sally”,” he replied.
I just like things a certain way sometimes. That being said, my expectations were not high as I made this bean recipe, but I have to say I was not disappointed. I mean, yeah, they aren’t the delicious molasses-y baked beans that I prefer, but these are a nice summer-y bean. They pair well with brats on the grill and coleslaw. The sauce is great to dip buns in. And if you don’t have bacon fat, you can use any sort of fat you have. If you have to make bacon fat, just add the bacon, too.
You’ll have to forgive the pictures. This recipe is from my backlog and was originally cooked nearly a year ago. I haven’t made it since, but this should not deter you from trying it. Chances are, you don’t have over 1000 recipes to try to cook through and write about. (But I kind of want baked beans now, but I’ll settle for a piece of the Pear Gingerbread Upside Down Cake instead.)
The Recipe:
Baked Beans
1 can lima beans (drained)
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can white navy beans (drained)
3 onions chopped fined
1 clove garlic
3 TB bacon fat
1/2 cup catsup
3 TB brown sugar
3 TB vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
Mix and cover pot. Cook at least an hour. Remove cover and cook another 15-20 minutes.
Pin this:
For more great bean recipes (because I know that’s what you want) try 4 Bean Salad, Sour Cream Lima Beans, and Bean Salad.
I am picky about my beans as well!! I’m right there with you! But I’m not a lima bean girl! I love black beans, so I may make this with black beans over lima. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂 (Love the pin, btw)
That sounds interesting. Let me know how it goes.
And I’m working on putting the pins on all of the old recipes, too.
I cannot tell you how many Baked Bean recipes I have found, and I am not happy with any of them, mostly because the recipes called for dry beans, which I never seem to soak long enough.
Obviously, I never thought of using canned beans (duh!), which would solve everything.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I know this one will work.
If you are using dried beans, it does take forever to get really good beans. I always forget to soak my beans overnight, so I usually just boil some water and do a “quick” hour long soak. But, yeah, canned beans does make it a ton easier.