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.
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For more great bean recipes (because I know that’s what you want) try 4 Bean Salad, Sour Cream Lima Beans, and Bean Salad.
By the time this post publishes, I will be on a work trip to Canada. My husband and kids will be home by themselves. Because I’m me, I want to have some things prepared for them to eat before I leave. It’s just easier for everyone if they don’t have to think about it. Plus it makes it less likely that they will default to pizza every night that they aren’t eating boxed macaroni and cheese. My husband is a getting to be a much better cook because he’s had to take over a lot of the initial meal prep with our work schedules, but when the cat’s away, the mice will play. (Which is a really gross cliche to put on a food blog.)
And speaking of making sure my family is taken care of, I decided to take my blog writing on the road today and worked from a coffee shop this morning. The boys are with their dad and we brought the girl with us because she’s been wanting to get back there and play in their super cool kid area. The coffee shop is known as the town’s living room. We chose a table near the kids’ area, got her a muffin and a chocolate milk that she won’t eat or drink until much later because she already had 3 breakfasts and really just wanted to play. There were a couple of women sitting at table near us. One of them was slightly younger than the other, but if someone had said that they both had grandchildren, I wouldn’t be surprised. Except, I kind of feel like neither of them had ever had kids since they started loudly talking about how terrible we are for bringing our child to a coffee shop and not spending time with her. One of them looked like an old church lady. She would lean forward and whisper something to her companion who would comment outloud about how neglectful we are. It makes me crazy. I feel the need to justify myself and my choices. But it doesn’t matter. They wouldn’t get it. And now they are talking about child psychology. I just can’t even.
