“Would you let me shove a pound of bacon up your backside and then cook it with a blowtorch?” - “YEAH!”
Re the original question, I say sure, but bacon in beans is a shortcut method for the right way to do it: parcook the beans, then put them in a disposable foil tray, cover the tray with a sheet of foil, and punch a few holes in it; then remove the metal grate from your charcoal grill, put the bean-filled tray in the base of the grill, and replace the grate; and slow-cook BBQ pork ribs on the grate directly over the bean-filled tray. The foil keeps the ash out of the beans, while the holes allow the dripping pork fat to drizzle through.
If you don’t want to bother with that, then bacon is a marginally adequate substitute.
You have no idea how badly I wish my apartment had a place for me to set up a charcoal grill right now. I haven’t tried this method, but I must track myself down a grill and a place to cook for a few hours so I can.
And now I have to drive all the way across town to get to one of the only decent BBQ places in LA so I can have ribs and beans to tide me over until then.
I cook baked beans 5 days a week for around 100 people.Been experimenting with the recipe and I think I got it finalised just today.
I use
4 #10 cans of beans(which are a little less than a gallon each).
About 3 cups of diced onions
3 sticks of butter
2 cups of molasses
About 3 TBSP of ground mustard seed
1 pound of brown sugar
and of course bacon… about 20 slices cooked and chopped and the bacon grease.
I saute the onions in the butter and the bacon grease.
Then everything else is added ,except the brown sugar,simmer for a couple hours,add the brown sugar.
I dont bake em,cook em on a stove top.
It is very good,if i do say so myself.Ya might wanna make a smaller batch though.
If I’m not mistaken (and I certainly might be!) you can buy “vegetarian baked beans” in the supermarket. These are made without any pork or anything being added.
Having said that, I’ll address the OP: bacon goes in almost everything, including baked beans!
I’ve heard from very vegetarian friends that the best vegetarian baked beans are the British tinned beans, but if you don’t have a store that imports them I’ve also heard good things about Bush’s vegetarian baked beans.
For myself, I do love bacon, but if I was having real homemade baked beans, I’d want the meat to be one slab of some sort of smoked or brined mostly fat pork bit, cooked until it started to fall apart. Then each serving would get a piece of it, but not lots.
I’m a little surprised you haven’t added a bit of vinegar. Have you ever tried that? Also, why did you decide to use mustard seed rather than dry mustard?
Oh, wait. I see you used ground mustard seed. Same as dry mustard. But the vinegar would be a must IMHO.
I have not tried vinegar, what kind and how much do ya figure would be good ?..Umm as far as the mustard,it probly is dry mustard,I’ll hafta look tomorrow
I would probably use at least a cup, considering how much brown sugar and molasses you use. White vinegar is just fine.
Until you posted your recipe, I had no idea why I added vinegar to my recipe. But, evidently, the vinegar(or anything acidic) activates the dry mustard to release its flavor. I think anything between a cup and two cups will be fine. Maybe start with a cup, and next week try a batch with 1 1/2 cups, and trust your own taste buds.
Also, I’m not sure why you wait to add the brown sugar.
I’ll try that.One of the other kitchens served beans yesterday and had leftovers so I will use theirs today and make a new batch tomorrow.I’ll keep ya posted.
Not sure why I add the brown sugar til the end either(I’m just wingin this cooking thing),I think its cus thats the way I did it the 1st time and havent switched it.
Any other ingredients to add? By the end of summer I could have one heck of a batch of beans.Open to all suggestions, so throw em out here and I’ll experiment.
