Beans for the big game

[IdahoJim]

I'm having some family over for the Superbowl on Sunday. I'm going to make some pulled pork. I'd like to take a crack at making some good beans from scratch to go with the pulled pork. I don't feel like just opening a can of Bush's baked beans. Who's got a good recipe you can point me to?

[Mosca]

I didn’t follow this exactly; when it was done I just tinkered with this and that to make it what I wanted, and you can, too. But it’s pretty adaptable. I made them when I made whole spares, and I used the tips, the flap meat, and the skirt meat to season the beans. It came out pretty spectacular, as good as any bbq baked beans I’ve had from a restaurant.

EDITED TO ADD: They freeze really well, I’ve thawed them 8 months later and they’re as good as freshly made.

The Best Barbecue Beans

BBQ/Grilling/Smoking, Beans, Sides
Prep Time: 30 mins soaking time | Cook Time: 6 hrs 35 mins | Servings: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:
Water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 pound small dried beans, such as great northern, navy, or pinto beans, picked over and rinsed (see notes)
8 ounces sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 1/2 cups finely minced yellow onion (about 1 large onion)
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely diced seeded jalapeño (about 1 medium pepper)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 medium cloves)
2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1 1/2 cups ketchup
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon barbecue rub
1 tablespoon hot sauce

Directions:
In a large container, whisk together 2 quarts water and salt until salt has dissolved. Add beans, cover, and let stand overnight at room temperature. Drain and rinse beans.
Place a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until fat has rendered and bacon has crisped, 7-10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving as much fat in Dutch oven as possible.
Add onion to Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens and begins to brown around the edges, about 7 minutes. Stir in green pepper, jalapeño, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups of water, chicken stock, reserved bacon, and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C) while beans are simmering.
Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, honey, molasses, mustard, vinegar, barbecue rub, and hot sauce. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook beans for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and cook until beans are tender throughout and sauce has thickened, about 1 hour longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Season with salt. Serve immediately; alternatively, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze. Reheat before serving.

Notes:
You can use a single variety of bean or combine several.

Nutrition:
(per serving)
527 Calories 11g Fat 87g Carbs 24g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories 527
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g 14%
Saturated Fat 4g 18%
Cholesterol 29mg 10%
Sodium 1151mg 50%
Total Carbohydrate 87g 32%
Dietary Fiber 12g 44%
Total Sugars 47g
Protein 24g
Vitamin C 22mg 108%
Calcium 162mg 12%
Iron 5mg 26%
Potassium 1378mg 29%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/best-barbecue-beans-recipe

[Mosca]

Mrs Mosca can’t take hot, so I skipped the jalaps and the hot sauce. Use what you like, all those are good! I’m a capsaicin junkie, I’ll eat whole habaneros. That’s my upper limit. My favorite right now is Melinda’s Ghost Pepper Sauce, it’s not as hot as ghost peppers but it’s pretty hot.

[IdahoJim]

Mosca, I'm going to give this recipe a try, but maybe cut down on some of the sugar. We are going to have 8 or 9 adults and a couple of kids. Should I double the recipe for that many people?

[Mosca]

It should be fine, but my rule is that you should never run out of anything. I’d double it, and freeze any leftovers. At 8 months they taste like they were made yesterday. Regarding sweetness, that sounds like a good idea; cut back the sugar and taste, if it’s not sweet enough you can always add more. I’d start by leaving out the brown sugar; molasses and honey are flavor. Then see what you think.

[yakima]

Lots of bean recipes at ranchogordo.com.

[IdahoJim]

I've seen Rancho Gordo beans mentioned here before. I just went and checked out their website. Man, they better be good beans. They cost more per pound than a lot of meat I buy.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

IdahoJim they are, I used to just get canned beans because they weren't much different than dry beans... RGs beans are easily distinguishable from canned and other dry beans. I've yet to find a stone in them either.

[Mosca]

IdahoJim Honestly, for something like this, the difference between fresh and canned is nuance. You’re boiling them, adding loads of bacon, onion, peppers, sugar, sauces, etc, then baking them for 4 hours. Your guests are going to eat them all no matter what, so do what fits your meal timing.

[Davek8282]

I really like the Texas Butter Bean recipe on the free side of the site. Note that these do not contain any sugar so they are not sweet on the palate, the addition of the chopped Jalapeño gives them a little spicy note

[Panhead John]

Here ya go. I always buy the frozen purple hulls, butter beans too. I’ve not found any fresh ones at the grocery store but these are almost indistinguishable from fresh.

https://pictsweetfarms.com/product/purple-hull-peas/southern-classics/traditional-preparation/82236/

[Davek8282]

Thanks for the thought Panhead John unfortunately I don't think frozen shipped from Texas to Canada is going to work. I did an internet search all I can purchase up here is the seeds but they are not suitable for the climate, if I lived further south in Canada that would work. I may add some black eyed peas next time I make some, along with the ham hock.

[Panhead John]

I know it’s different being in Canada, but I thought they might sell em in a grocery store there. Even here, I have to search the frozen vegetable aisle for em.

[ecowper]

My drunken Texas beans!

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

[captainlee]

My beans are in a can and they will stay there, sorry bean lovers.

[JoeSousa]

I am a fan of these baked beans from Malcom Reed: https://howtobbqright.com/2019/06/28...-baked-beans/I usually fry up some bacon bits and cook the onion a bit. Really tasty and easy.

If you want something different than normal baked beans I made this recipe earlier in the week and it was excellent: https://www.seriouseats.com/frijoles...s-bacon-recipe Awesome flavor and the beans were the perfect texture. I used a couple serranos and also added a splash of liquid smoke to up the smokiness of the dish. The recipe also calls for 2 cans of tomatoes and I only used one. Could also just drain the tomatoes a bit.

[fzxdoc]

If you want some beans that are not sweet, try Homesick Texan's Sunday Pinto Beans. Nothing fancy, but darn, they taste good.

I usually make a batch of sweet beans (like Mosca 's) and a batch of savory beans when I entertain. Leftovers, if any, disappear quickly often in take-home containers for the guests.

FWIW, here are other good bean recipes on that Homesick Texan site as well.

Kathryn

[Panhead John]

That’s close to how I make my pintos, but a lb. of browned hamburger meat, cilantro and a can of Rotel would really improve that pinto recipe…IMO.

[GolfGeezer]

Mosca and fzxdoc Doh! I have a shipment of RG beans arriving tomorrow, and I am smoking a couple of slabs of St. Louis for Stupid Bowl day. Now the dilemma is which kind to make and which recipe - and you 2 have added to the "spinning recipe" ideas to go with them. Black beans, pintos, navy/white and Marcella's. Doh!

[fzxdoc]

Not a bad problem to have. Enjoy your beans.

K.

[IdahoJim]

Well, I used the Serious Eats recipe that Mosca posted and I was a little disappointed. I think they could have been better if I had done the actually cooking differently. They tasted a bit burnt, and I think that's because some stuff on the sides of my Dutch oven did burn while it was in the oven.

I noticed that my oven got up as high as about 340 and as low as about 285 when it was set to 300. When I opened it to stir the beans they were boiling pretty good. I'm thinking lower and slower would work better. Either in a lower oven or a crock pot. Heck, I could cook them in my Memphis pellet grill and it would keep a much more consistent temperature than my oven.

They were a bit more work than I expected when I made them too. Dicing the onion, green pepper and Jalapeño took a while. I should have done that before I started cooking. Also measuring out the molasses, honey and brown sugar was more challenging than I expected.

Next time I may just open a can of Bush's Baked Beans. Well, we have another bag of bean lying around. Maybe I'll try to find a good crock pot recipe. Or maybe sous vide???

[GolfGeezer]

My batch of these Mosca / serious-eats beans came out really well. It is a long cook and does take a lot of prep. I also cut down on the sweet stuff: only 1 cup ketchup, 1/3 cup brown sugar and less molasses. Got up at 5 AM (that is sleeping in time for me), soaked the beans. Also prepped my 2 racks of st. Lou’s cut ribs that had been brining overnight. Target completion for everything was the start of the SB game, so got things going at 9 AM. Ribs on the MAK at 250*. Chopped everything, drained the beans, then did the browning and assembled the pot for the oven at @300. Really, it all came together nicely. My take on the beans was that there were a bit more “tomato forward” in taste than I expected. The sweetness worked for us, although it would have been easy to add more if that was what you wanted.

of course, no pics, so it didn’t really happen. Sorry.