Baked Beans
- Tracy Scheckel
- Jul 9
- 4 min read
My baked beans is inspired by my former mother-in-law, Jane. Jane used plain old Campbell's from the can and slathered them with mustard, catsup, molasses, brown sugar, and topped them off with bacon. She baked them until the bacon was cooked and all the ingredients were thickened. When I first tasted them, I went crazy for them (Italians don't really make baked beans -- at least my mother and Nana didn't) since my experience with baked beans was Campbell's just out of the can.
What I didn't like about Jane's baked beans was that the beans got really mushy, so I started making mine from dried beans. Jane also had a major sweet tooth so her beans were drippingly sweet, over the years, my evolved to be a bit more savory. I love the ritual of soaking, boiling, and then baking them in a low oven for a really long time. And when you do the baking overnight, boy does it smell wonderful when you wake up.
I don't know why, but never really though about baked beans being a New England thing, I know.... Boston Baked Beans, B&M... remember I'm an Italian girl from Jersey! So after we came to Maine, it didn't occur to me that I might be judged by my beans -- which became my go-to for BBQ and picnic pot lucks in the summer. I could bake the beans over night and not heat up the house during the day and I didn't have to worry about keeping them cold for picnics and such.
One 4th of July, we were invited to a friend's subdivision Independence Day block party. I brought the beans and set them out with all the other food. Next thing I know, I hear a couple of women wandering around asking among their neighbors 'who made the beans?' Eventually I 'fessed up only to be told that they were the best beans they had ever tasted and couldn't possibly have come from a Jersey girl.
This is one of those recipes that I can't give you exact amounts of ingredients, but I will give you the entire list and you can mix and match. One thing I do consistently is cook slices of bacon on top of the beans while they are baking. I have found that using a bacon on the leaner size works better for the slow bake method that I use.
THE RECIPE:
dry beans (I like small red beans)
water for soaking and boiling
lean bacon sliced
onion minced
molasses
brown sugar
maple syrup
minced garlic or garlic powder
ground ginger
catsup
mustard
apple cider vinegar
horseradish
liquid smoke
Put the dry beans s in a large stock pot and cover with enough water that it's an inch above the beans. Let sit for several hours and add water if it gets absorbed. The beans should feel a little bit softened but still really hard.
Drain the beans and return to the pot and cover with water again.
add minced onion and if using fresh minced garlic add it to the pot.
Take a couple of strips of bacon and cut into pieces about 1/2" or less long and add to the beans.
Bring the beans, bacon and savories to a boil and simmer for a couple of hours until just tender enough to bite through without being crunchy.
While the beans are boiling, mix the other ingredients together.
I start with catsup, mustard, vinegar, and then depending on my mood add some combination of ginger, garlic powder if not in the boil, and or horseradish (depending on how much kick I'm looking for.
Once I have that mix where I want it as far as balance between savory and vinegar, I gradually add a combination of brown sugar and either molasses or maple syrup. Molasses is strong and maple syrup is more subtle.
Finally, I like to through a couple of drops of liquid smoke into the mix.
Make sure it's well mixed and set aside.
When the beans are al dente, drain the water but retain the onion, bacon, and garlic bits with the beans.
Put the beans into a baking dish and stir in the 'sauce' to combine and coat every bean. It should be a bit loose because slow baking will reduce the liquid.
Once the beans are all mixed, carefully lay the remaining strips of raw bacon to cover the beans.
Sprinkle the bacon with additional brown sugar, cover tightly and bake in a 215 degree oven over night (8 hours).
If the beans look too watery after 8 hours, bake them uncovered at 250 degrees until they thicken up further.
Note, thicker fattier bacon should be partially baked on a rimmed cookie sheet before the slow bake method as the temp isn't high enough to crisp up the bacon and it also renders too much fat. Lean bacon avoids that step.
A faster cook method is to boil the beans until they are more tender and then bake for an hour at 350 or 375 degrees.
PS:
Just realized that this is my 100th post. Can you believe it?
