Canned Baked Beans Hack
I have never baked beans, but Norm likes them as a side dish when he makes ribs on the BBQ, so he'll buy a can. If you only have plain navy (aka Boston or pea) beans or even a can of pinto beans in the cupboard, you can make faux canned baked beans by heating up the plain, drained beans with a mixture of:
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 1-2 Tbsp ketchup
Simmer the beans for a while in this sauce in the pot until cooked through.
Baked Beans
This recipe, like the one above, is from Edna Staebler's 1990 Vegetables with Schmecks Appeal cookbook. The original recipe used salt pork instead of thick-cut bacon, but bacon is easier to find. This isn't a last-minute recipe so read through the instructions first, start the night before serving.
- 4 cups dry Navy beans (little white beans)
- 10 cups water
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 pound thick-cut bacon
- Soak beans for 8 hours or overnight in a large pot with 10 cups water.
- In the morning, put the pot on the stove and cook the beans in the water slowly, until the skins burst.
- Drain the beans but save the liquid.
- Blend together molasses, mustard, pepper, ketchup and 2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid from the beans.
- Put one piece of uncooked bacon in the bottom of a baking dish. Cover with the cooked, drained beans.
- Put the rest of the bacon on top of the beans.
- Pour the molasses mixture over the beans and also add enough reserved bean liquid to cover the mixture.
- Put a lid on the dish.
- Bake, covered, in a preheated 300 degree F oven for 4-1/2 hours. Check the beans every once in a while to see if the beans are drying out. Use the bean cooking water to add more liquid or if you've used it up, add some boiling water.
- Take the cover off the dish and bake the beans for 1/2 hour more. Total baking time is 5 hours. The beans should now be brown and moist with a rich sauce.
- Serve hot. Left-overs are good reheated.
