Some people might consider it cheating but I did mine in the crockpot and got thick, crusty beans using corn startch. That being said, I’m going to try the next batch in oven before deciding which method I prefer.
If there isn’t prepackaged salt pork in the meat section of your grocery, ask the butcher. Salt pork also freezes well, so don’t be afraid to get a good-sized hunk. You’ll find other recipes to use it in!
A good crust is essential for baked beans, so remove the lid the last hour of cooking, or do the spread on a cookie sheet thing devilsknew recommended above. I generally find that second-day beans are quite thick enough for sandwiches without the spreading, but YMMV.
Thank you, I’ve been at work all weekend and couldn’t get back to that. My wife loved them with bourbon and coffee and didn’t believe me when I told her my ‘secret’ ingredients.
Plus, cooking was a blast. A little for the beans, a little for me…a little for the beans…
I’m just going to pretend like I didn’t read that… 
Beans are starchy, so you could have resorted to mashing a small amount of them to release their thickening power and uncover the crock pot to speed evaparation, and perhaps just turn the crockpot up and cook longer. But I would never add cornstarch, no offense but it just seems like all kinds of wrong. I think the key to proper baked beans is to let the starches and carmelization develop naturally with low dry heat and time, a long time.
Really, I agree with what someone said upthread. These are “crockpot beans”, not baked beans.
I didn’t say anything about spreading on a sheet pan, Hell Naw! Just bake them in a shallow casserole or cake pan covered with foil, remove the foil the last hour of cooking or so. No spreading on a sheet pan. A 9X13X2 cake pan is ideal
That’s what I get for typing with a cat on my chest. I still don’t bother, though. Taking the lid off the pot works just fine.
Now, of course, I’ll have to make a batch myself. I wonder if there is any salt pork in the freezer…
Oh, boy; those beans are smelling good!
Yeah, crock pot might not be the best way to go. After 15 hours (7 yesterday and 8 today), they’re still a little more firm than I’d prefer them to be. How long are you guys doing them in the oven for?
I get the same reaction. My husband seems to think that these two ingredients are common (even normal) in baked beans, but mine are the only ones I’ve ever had with both bourbon and coffee. I can’t get enough of 'em!!
I wish I was a bourbon drinker! Your way sounds way fun!
silenus said six or seven hours. Mine have been in the oven for just under six hours. I just took the lid off to brown the top, and I saw that there was still liquid in the bottom of the pan. I’m thinking another hour.
Did you put salt in with the beans? Adding salt at the start tends to keep beans firm. I added 1/2 tsp salt this morning because I wasn’t quite awake when I started (even after the trip to the store to get the salt pork). But it was only a little salt; and, while I didn’t sample the beans yet, they don’t appear to be too firm.
I did add just a couple shakes of salt at the start. I’ll remember not to do that next time.
Cook’s Illustrated did a series of tests awhile back that pretty much disproved the “salt = toughness” UL about beans. Was a big surprise to me, since Grandma always swore that salting early led to tough beans. Sorry, Gran! However, they did find that acidic ingredients would make for tough beans, so if you have a recipe that calls for tomatoes, add them late.
Well, my beans aren’t tough; in spite of having added salt at the beginning. Normally I let the smoked meat do the salting. In any case…
Yes, I’m having a bowl of baked beans! They turned out nicely. Only looking at the pot, I’m wondering if one pound of beans was enough. Maybe next time I’ll use the two-pound recipe. Incidentally, once I started making this I used a combination of silenus’s and kittenblue’s recipes adjusted for one pound of beans.
Thank you to all who contributed! 
You guys have inspired me - I went out and got some beans and found the salt pork near the sandwich meats, just as Johnny suggested. I’ll soak them tonight and try silenus’ recipe tomorrow.
Only problem - no bourbon. I don’t drink it. The only hard liquor I’ve got is Screech and brandy - would either of those work instead of bourbon?
So who’s ummmm, errr . . . uhhh . . . <scratches eyebrow> . . . a little gassy?
Old thread regarding the use of bacon in baked beans.
Now that I look closer, my recipe is just a half-recipe of Silenius’s! I made them today, because this thread was driving me crazy…I haven’t made the beans in years! I didn’t realize I’d bought a 2 lb. bag of beans, so I had to make a double batch, and fortunately I own two bean pots! I used Great Northern beans, and added extra salt pork…no sense leaving 4 ounces sitting in the package, now, is there?
Soaked the beans overnight, drained and rinsed, parboiled them and rinsed…we’ll see if that hepls at all! I didn’t need to add any water at all…in fact, they boiled over in the oven, so we will get to try the oven-cleaning feature for the first time with this new oven!
But they are so good. So very good. I called my brother to come over and get some…he hasn’t had any for years, either, and whenever I cook something from our childhood, I like to give him a portion, too…as much as he loves his wife, sometimes a guy wants some of HIS family’s recipes, too…and he’s the cook at their house!
Funny that this thread should pop back up today. My 2nd try is almost done. I soaked the beans overnight last night (unlike last time) and I went with a much simpler recipe. Last time I think I got a little too mad scientist and all the flavors ended up clashing instead of complimenting each other. I’ll report back on how this one is different.
I’m glad this thread popped up - I meant to soak the beans tonight and had forgotten! shall put them in water right away.
to get back to my earlier question - no bourbon, so would screech or brandy make a better substitute? I’m thinking the screech might be closer to the sweetness of bourbon?
Tonight’s batch was head and shoulders above the first one. A little bit bland though. No, not bland, just not as bursting with flavor as I would like. I left the bacon out because I’m trying to cut down on sodium, but next time I think I’m going to have to splurge.