Drip Pan Beans?

[DaveD]

Hi folks, please be gentle as I parade my ignorance. I've seen some folks mention making beans in a pan below smoking meat, but I could use some more general guidance. I've got a pair of racks of SL spares on tap for the smoker tomorrow, and with a vertical pellet rig it's easy to position a pan below the meat.

So first, what's the general process? Should they be partially cooked before going into the drip pan, or do you just add whatever's in the pan to something you do on the stovetop, or...?

Will there even be enough drippings from two racks o'ribs to matter? Is this something better done with cuts like butt or chuck? Cook time is several hours shorter...

I've got a pound bag of dry black beans on hand, plus a can of red kidney beans to work with. I gather that soaking the dry beans overnight before cooking is required?

When I removed the rib membranes today, there were those diagonal flappy thangs (technical term) that I sliced off, so I have those sort of cubed up that could go in the pan:



I also have some bacon on hand that I could smoke to almost-done and add some chunks of that too -- overkill?

Any advice welcome for my maiden bean experience. Wish me Bean Voyage.

[Panhead John]

That’s a good question…I’m gonna follow along.. ecowper Haven't you done this?

[bbqLuv]

ditto, follow along

[Texas Larry]

When I’ve done it, depending on how long the meat is cooking, I’ve considered partially cooking the beans ahead. Or using canned beans for a no brainer.

[Attjack]

I do it with chicken and veggies all the time but have never done it with ribs or beans.

[58limited]

When I cook beans I soak them overnight, boil them for about 10 minutes, add any other ingredients, then simmer until done. I do the simmer step on the pit under the BBQ.

[ecowper]

Panhead John Thanks for pinging me …. Yes, I cook beans, gravy, and other stuff under my ribs, pork butt, etc. My personal favorite is cooking a mess o’ beans under a pork butt. But you can get to the same place underneath ribs.

first thing is to know how long dry beans need to cook. I NEVER soak beans. I just cook ‘em. Which, if you think about it, is how the old time chuck wagon cooks did things. So, whatever cook time you think soaked beans need, you should add about an hour to that time. General rule, for me, is that if I put dry beans in to cook, they are going to be on the stove or in the smoker for 4 hours, give or take.

Next thing, I need to make sure the beans are running at a low simmer. So, that means my smoker can’t be too hot or they are going to boil, not simmer. I like to cook ribs at about 250F and that works well for beans on the rack under the ribs, where the temp is gonna be 230F, or so.

Finally, the reason to cook beans this way is the dripping from the pork butt, ribs, or what have you. But way more important, to me, is that they are getting all that awesome smoke.

Last thing to consider, is when do you need to pull the beans, add some water, or what have you. Generally, after about 3 hours, you should be checking those beans to see how they are doing. At some point, they are coming out of the smoker and going on the stove to finish.

[ecowper]

For some specifics … if you were going to cook the beans on the stove top, do the same mix of beans, meat, water, etc in the pan going into the smoker.

[ecowper]

Okay, and last comment …. Take my "approach to drunken beans" and use it for what you are doing. I do this on the smoker sometimes.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/beans/838738-eric’s-method-for-drunken-texas-beans

[CaptainMike]

FWIW, I have never liked the flavor of smoked drippings on anything I've tried. That said, I will more often than not finish my beans/chili/stew et al, in a smoker, especially if it's the main course. It just tastes cleaner to me than greasy 'ol drippins.

[ecowper]

I used to like you Mike. Then you said you don’t like smoked drippings on your beans.

[CaptainMike]

You can still like me, E.

[texastweeter]

I follow my regular BBQ baked beans recipe, except I drain all the grease out of the bacon when I add it (or you can dice the rib trimmings up fine and sear the beejesus out of them and use instead of bacon) and I cook them under the ribs instead of in the oven, letting the great a yumyum juices drip into the pan. They will have to go longer due to the lower heat, but the make for some mighty fine eatin.

[Mr. Bones]

Havedta agree, proper smoked beans...

Y'all mighta done heared me speak of beans, afore this post...

'"...used properly, no can defend"

Have ya posted (willin to) post yer Calhoun's Secret Baked Beans receipt, up in here?

[texastweeter]

Combine 2 cups pinto beans, 1 kosher teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/3 cup each molasses and BBQ sauce, and 4 cups water in a pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure 45 minutes. Meanwhile fry up about a lb of bacon, sausage or diced pork trim until crispy. Remove from pan and saute 1 onion, and 3 cloves garlic in the remaining grease. Once the beans are done let natural release. Now stir in the onion/garlic, bacon, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/4 cup jack daniels, and 1/2 cup MMD. Pour in a foil pan and park under your shoulder or ribs. Be sure to stir and add water if needed. Should take another about 2 hours, so put them under there towards the end of your cook. You can adapt and do on stove top if you don't have a pressure cooker.
Mr. Bones

[Debra]

I hope this is in the recipe section? I love the Instapot.

[DaveD]

Wow, lots of great input here, thanks all! Sadly, much of it came in overnight my time, I was already long abed. And I'd made the move to soak the beans before hitting the sack too, so I'm locked in there.

That said, looks like Eric's ecowper recipe/approach should be pretty doable, and since I have regular old store-bought dried beans, looks like the overnight soak is just fine.

I'm going to smoke some bacon this morning before I get the ribs in, and pull half of it when it's not quite crisp yet, and that will go into the beans in due course; the other half will be BLTs for lunch

All the beers I have on hand are on the hoppy side, because I'm a hophead, but I ain't skeered. And I think I'll need to cook those cubed up rib trimmings in the smoker and add them to the beans later, don't want to risk them not being thoroughly cooked. And I'll be using some of our stash of roasted Hatch green chile instead of jalapeños.

I'll post updates later today as I go along, please check it out!

[Panhead John]

If you’d like help with your hophead problem, please call my hotline 24 hours…
1-800-COORS-LIGHT

[RustyHaines]

1-877-NOT-BEER, Phone number correction that reflects correct number of digits and taste 😊

[Panhead John]

Rusty, everything’s bigger in Texas…including phone numbers. 🙄

[DaveD]

At some point, they are coming out of the smoker and going on the stove to finish.

Eric ecowper , could you please elaborate on this a bit? What needs to be done on the stove to finish the beans if they've successfully gotten through the simmering in the smoker stage? Thanks again!

[ecowper]

I find that I end pulling and finishing on the stove. A lot of that is due to the nature of my smokers (WSM and Hasty-Bake) and how easy/difficult it is to get at the beans while on the lower shelf.

[fzxdoc]

For the sake of food safety, I boil or pressure cook dried beans to get rid of the toxins. This is especially important for kidney beans: https://enewsletters.k-state.edu/you...-beans-safely/

Then I'll put them in a pot on the smoker to finish up during the cook.

Kathryn

[Panhead John]

I agree with you guys. I never soak my beans overnight. Your method works too, but I usually do the 2 minute boil, cover and rest for an hour…then cook. Either way, my beans are usually always done in 2 hours.

[Jessterr]

fzxdoc. I have a favorite Project Smoke bean recipe that I’ve made often using canned kidney beans, but have been thinking recently about attempting it with dried beans instead. I’ve never heard of this toxin issue before, so thanks for the alert, Kathryn, much appreciated!

[smabrito]

thanks for the kidney bean article link. That's great to know

[Starsky]

My drippings contain a lot of grease. I don't see how that much in the beans can be tasty

[smabrito]

Thanks, Starsky. I'm planning to cook on the stove & move into smoker for an hour or so.