Baked Beans

[downsizingnow48]

We usually have baked beans for 4th of July. I start things the evening before so they are ready by midday on the 4th. I have used the same recipe with minor adjustments for a long time. The actual prep time is minimal but cooking takes a while.


Day 1, evening.


Cook up the beans on top of the stove. I like to try a different type of bean each year, this year was yellow eye beans.


1 lb beans
1 onion
2 medium carrots
3 garlic cloves
2 10" sprigs fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf


Put it all in the pot. Simmer for about 2-3 hours until beans are soft but not falling apart. Take the herbs etc out of the beans, put the pot in refrigerator overnight. You can also just go straight on to Day 2.


Day 2, morning.


1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp dry yellow mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb pork belly
1/2 small onion
1 medium shallot


Cut pork into half inch cubes. Fry in dutch oven until pretty well cooked. Add the diced onion and shallot. Fry until they are translucent and slightly browned.


Now pour in the pot of beans from Day 1.


Mix up the molasses, syrup, and mustard with about 1 cup of water to get everything to merge together. Pour into the dutch oven with everything else.


Add salt and pepper.


Add water to cover plus about one half inch. Bake in oven (uncovered) for 3-4 hours at 325 degrees.


Let it sit for 30-40 minutes before serving.

 

[Bird]

Sounds like some good beans. My mother had a very popular recipe. It seemed that her baked beans were always very popular, but I don't have her recipe. So now we just eat Bush's Original Baked Beans.

 

[Molalla1]

Sounds like some good beans. My mother had a very popular recipe. It seemed that her baked beans were always very popular, but I don't have her recipe. So now we just eat Bush's Original Baked Beans.

I have a recipe for my grandmothers BB's, nobody, not even my sainted mother could replicate it . . . to this day I cannot either . . . with instructions like a pinch of this and a drizzle of that . . . and if after adding some other ingredients it taste like this to add some more of this or that :confused2: . . . they were the greatest BB's I have ever ate.

 

[CADplans]

I have a recipe for my grandmothers BB's, nobody, not even my sainted mother could replicate it . . . to this day I cannot either . . . with instructions like a pinch of this and a drizzle of that . . . and if after adding some other ingredients it taste like this to add some more of this or that :confused2: . . . they were the greatest BB's I have ever ate.

I recommend you keep trying!! :thumbsup:

My grandmother had a way of making dumplings that everyone in the family tried to re-create,, and they all failed,,

One Saturday, I set out to make dumplings,, equal to grandma's,,

Well, finally on the third or so batch,, I figured it out,,

We had a family get together,, to try the dumplings,, served with three other dishes grandma served the dumplings with,,

Everyone agreed,, I had duplicated the dumplings,,
Then, I had to have a "lesson" on how to make them,, they are a regular item in most of the families homes now,,,:cool2:

 

[Thomas]

Sounds good :licking: what time should I arrive.

 

[Molalla1]

I recommend you keep trying!! :thumbsup:

My grandmother had a way of making dumplings that everyone in the family tried to re-create,, and they all failed,,

One Saturday, I set out to make dumplings,, equal to grandma's,,

Well, finally on the third or so batch,, I figured it out,,

We had a family get together,, to try the dumplings,, served with three other dishes grandma served the dumplings with,,

Everyone agreed,, I had duplicated the dumplings,,
Then, I had to have a "lesson" on how to make them,, they are a regular item in most of the families homes now,,,:cool2:

My wife has given up . . . I am going to keep trying, there is just something missing . . . but I'll have to repeat, those beans were to die for, fatback and all.

 

[Sheldon Hamblin]

Are the beans "bland" or lacking flavor?
Sometimes food needs an extra day for the flavor S to "meld". Then reheated it tastes better

 

[Molalla1]

Are the beans "bland" or lacking flavor?
Sometimes food needs an extra day for the flavor S to "meld". Then reheated it tastes better

That is not that ^^^^^^ it's a delicate symphony of ingredients that that my grandmother put together many, many years ago . . . early 1900, where ingredients were not measured like today.

 

[downsizingnow48]

How would you compare her recipe to today's standard BB recipes? What is the same, what is different. Interesting.

 

[Molalla1]

How would you compare her recipe to today's standard BB recipes? What is the same, what is different. Interesting.

downsizeing48 . . . you have me curious, I'm going to break out her recipe and give it another go, and as far as comparing my grandmother's recipe to today's it makes no sense . . . they had a different way of communicating with people back then.

 

[bunyip]

I have tried so many recipes and just can't seem to get it right, the beans just lack any flavour when I do it, I just resort to a chickpea stew with a light curry but the side effects are lethal, especially when you share the same bed.

 

[Molalla1]

I have tried so many recipes and just can't seem to get it right, the beans just lack any flavour when I do it, I just resort to a chickpea stew with a light curry but the side effects are lethal, especially when you share the same bed.

Soak your beans overnight, some salt/seasoning? . . . fatback . . .:licking:

 

[3Ts]

I have a recipe for my grandmothers BB's, nobody, not even my sainted mother could replicate it . . . to this day I cannot either . . . with instructions like a pinch of this and a drizzle of that . . . and if after adding some other ingredients it taste like this to add some more of this or that . . . they were the greatest BB's I have ever ate.

I have a recipe from my grandmother that was out of this world. Nobody in the family has been able to duplicate it even with 1/2 cup this, 1 Tsp of that etc., we think she left out an ingredient or two and we've essentially given up. However, my wife and I have been watching cooking shows and I think we might have discovered the missing ingredient. I'll have to try again and see.

One menu item that we had as a kid was Ham Hocks and Beans. Always made with navy beans - other than red kidney beans for chili, I never knew there was any other kind of bean. I got introduced to these funny looking beans they called pinto beans a few years ago. What a difference! We've replaced every single navy bean in the house, and have since discovered many other types of beans. We're into experimenting now.

 

[dragoneggs]

I have a recipe for my grandmothers BB's, nobody, not even my sainted mother could replicate it . . . to this day I cannot either . . . with instructions like a pinch of this and a drizzle of that . . . and if after adding some other ingredients it taste like this to add some more of this or that :confused2: . . . they were the greatest BB's I have ever ate.

I missed out of having grandmothers around for that incredible cooking. Honestly my mom wasn't a great cook. Nor my first wife. However, my second wife and last one is an incredible self taught chef. She denies it but everyone that has tried her cooking, sauces, asian fusion style... I can go on. Tonight we are having black cod. Not really a cod but a very oily sablefish or butterfish. With a marinade. I just put it on the Traeger for a little smoke.

Oops... back to the baked beans. That is the one dish she doesn't do very often at all, I think because we are both a little noisy afterward. Doesn't bother me... I say it is a sign of good cooking. :licking: She is a little shy that way. :ashamed:

 

[ray66v]

I cook my baked beans in my smoker.

I put them in at 11 pm, and leave them smoke until the next morning.

 

[Molalla1]

I missed out of having grandmothers around for that incredible cooking. Honestly my mom wasn't a great cook. Nor my first wife. However, my second wife and last one is an incredible self taught chef. She denies it but everyone that has tried her cooking, sauces, asian fusion style... I can go on. Tonight we are having black cod. Not really a cod but a very oily sablefish or butterfish. With a marinade. I just put it on the Traeger for a little smoke.

Oops... back to the baked beans. That is the one dish she doesn't do very often at all, I think because we are both a little noisy afterward. Doesn't bother me... I say it is a sign of good cooking. :licking: She is a little shy that way. :ashamed:

Yep, that incredible cooking came from a wood fired cook stove . . . she "grandma" was born in the late 1800's

 

[hawkeye08]

Many of our friends and family have complemented my wife on her spaghetti sauce... she uses store bought and adds a couple of ingredients to it (like some brown sugar).. she can cook the base also, but it is quicker to start with store bought.

Our middle daughter learned how to make biscuits from scratch and has them down to perfection. A friend came over with her Mom and our daughter made the biscuits for dinner. The Mom insisted on the recipe before she left.. a month or two later, we heard that the Mom had made some hockey pucks.

 

[downsizingnow48]

The missing ingredient could be the bean itself. Commercial dried beans in the chain grocery stores can be too old - dry and tasteless. Might try beans from local ethnic groceries or speciality suppliers just to see if that makes a difference.

 

[dragoneggs]

The missing ingredient could be the bean itself. Commercial dried beans in the chain grocery stores can be too old - dry and tasteless. Might try beans from local ethnic groceries or speciality suppliers just to see if that makes a difference.

Good advice!

 

[Molalla1]

I missed out of having grandmothers around for that incredible cooking. Honestly my mom wasn't a great cook. Nor my first wife. However, my second wife and last one is an incredible self taught chef. She denies it but everyone that has tried her cooking, sauces, asian fusion style... I can go on. Tonight we are having black cod. Not really a cod but a very oily sablefish or butterfish. With a marinade. I just put it on the Traeger for a little smoke.

Oops... back to the baked beans. That is the one dish she doesn't do very often at all, I think because we are both a little noisy afterward. Doesn't bother me... I say it is a sign of good cooking. :licking: She is a little shy that way. :ashamed:

I was raised by my GM, early on during WW2 . . . dad was overseas and mom was working for the shipyards . . . d@mn that woman could cook my, GM . . . I was very young back then but can still remember how good it was then.