Almost all of the home made baked beans (Boston or otherwise) I've tasted since I was a child turned me off, so I ate almost none. Invariably the cooks used dry mustard powder to excess and too little sweetening or other savory seasoning ingredients. But canned baked beans like Campbell's® Pork and Beans were okay, though a bit boring, as in close to tasteless. I used to add some brown sugar and ketchup to those beans and those additions improved the taste of the beans considerably. But don't waste your time looking for the pork ... there is only a small, lonely piece of pork fat hiding in the beans. How disgusting.
Many years passed, and I find myself about to put a recipe for baked beans into Food Nirvana. I am not excited. Conversely, I believe it is important for readers to have a decent recipe to use that won't turn off kids. That is my sole reason to make baked beans now and to provide this baked beans recipe within Food Nirvana.
In my first attempt the seasoning was fine ... pretty much pure good luck, but the beans were not soft enough. Ugh! That problem can be easily avoided by first soaking the beans under water in a saucepan overnight and then parboiling them for 15 to 30 minutes or until they are soft all the way through.
Okay ... let's get started. Ho, hum ... (Hey, let's be honest ... Red beans and rice [see the Food Nirvana recipe] are a far better, delicious use of beans! Or you might make yummy Ham and Bean soup with great northern beans. Or you might make delicious chili con carne with kidney beans ... etc.)
Ingredients: (six to eight adult servings)
6 cups of soaked, parboiled beans, drained (great northern, pinto, red or whatever)
3 strips of raw hickory smoked bacon, cut into 1" long pieces
1/4 lb. stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of dark Karo® syrup
1 cup of ketchup
3/4 cup of barbecue sauce (whatever brand you like best)
1/4 cup of yellow prepared mustard (not powdered/dry mustard ... use the type typically put on sandwich bread)
1 cup of warm water
Directions:
Wash the beans, as purchased, in a colander, using warm water.
Soak the beans overnight in a large saucepan, submerged under a few inches of room temperature water.
Parboil the beans for 15 to 30 minutes or until they are soft all the way through.
Drain the water from the beans in a colander and set them aside.
Cut the strips of bacon and set them aside.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix all of the other ingredients in a one gallon bowl with a large spoon until they are well combined.
Mix the parboiled beans with the other ingredients in the one gallon bowl.
Pour that mixture into a 9" x 13" glass baking dish.
Spread the cut pieces of bacon evenly on top of the bean mixture.
Put the baking dish into the oven on a middle shelf.
Bake the beans for two and one half hours at 325 degrees F.
Turn off the oven, then move the baking dish to a wood cutting board.
Serve the beans hot, along with some meat entree and a side vegetable or a salad.
Enjoy? Perhaps ... For baked beans, these taste pretty good. But I'm not excited.