By Duane Radford, Freelance Writer
Canadian Cowboy Country Magazine
Baked beans are seldom enjoyed by folks in our hectic world, but they’re a real treat at any time of the year. They’re so good and round off any meal with venison or beef, not to mention pork; they can be a meal in themselves, enjoyed with fresh-baked bread topped with butter and a beverage of your choice.
- 1?½ cups dried beans (e.g. small white pea or navy beans,
- or the larger great northern beans)
- ½ Spanish onion, diced
- 2 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- ½ cup ketchup
Soak the beans overnight in cold water in a large cooking pot, add 3 to 4 times as much water as there are beans because they’ll swell. Drain the contents the following morning and rinse the beans under cold water. Cover the beans with water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain the liquid in which the beans were cooked into a mixing bowl?—?set it aside. Put the beans in a Boston bean pot. This particular recipe is geared for five cups of baked beans so please don’t vary the amount of ingredients or else you must adjust them to the capacity of your casserole dish.
Mix the seasonings in a measuring bowl (salt, pepper, mustard, brown sugar or syrup, molasses and ketchup) and pour over top of the beans. Add the diced onion and bacon (you can also use salt pork or trim from a cooked ham). Stir well. Or, add the beans, onions and bacon in layers and top off with the seasonings mixture?—?then stir. Top off the beans with the water in which the beans were cooked.
Bake the beans in an oven at 250°F for 6 to 8 hours. Periodically add extra bean water (as needed) to keep them covered, stirring occasionally.
A word of advice to stay on the good side of the better half?—?until you get the hang of it, place some tinfoil on a baking tray underneath the Boston bean pot to collect any juices that might boil over, as it’s easier than cleaning the oven!
