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Posted by Jessica Pinney on , last updated
If you’re throwing a barbecue and aren’t serving baked beans, you’re doing it wrong.
To me, theyare the quintessential BBQ side dish. That’s why I will be making sure that theJuly4th party I’m going to has some.
Growing up, we always ate canned baked beans. While they do taste good, I wanted to do something with a little extra oomph. I’ve fallen in love making BBQ sauce from scratch and thought doing the same with baked beans would knock my socks off. Well, I was right. Socks be damned, these baked beans aretruly the best I’ve ever had!
They are the perfect combination of sweet and savory, with just a little heat thrown in (thanks to the homemade habanero honey).
I love how easy they are to make. I use canned navy beans to keep it simple. The only prep is making the honey (you could always buy premade spicy honey if you want to skip this step) as well as chopping your thick cut bacon & onion. After that,you just have to let all those wonderful flavors simmer together in a saucepan for 45 minutes.
The one problem I do have with eating baked beans at a BBQ? The need for utensils! I’m walking around with my plate, probably somehow also trying to manage a beer. I don’t have time for spoons!
I have found adelicious solution…bacon cups!
I saw this mini bacon cup idea a few years ago in Bite by Bite. I loved it at the time, but didn’t get the chance to try them out until now. Wow! I can’t believe I’ve wasted all this time. I love the added crunch they give to the baked beans, and who wouldn’t want a little extra bacon flavor?
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My eyes have been opened and I don’t think I could ever serve baked beansanother way.
Pour the honey into a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat, add the habanero, then allow the honey to cool to room temperature.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into an airtight container. Set aside.
Baked Beans
Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, 3-5 minutes.
Add the beans, brown sugar, bacon, port, molasses, 1 tablespoon of the habanero honey, chili powder and salt. Stir to combine, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently until the mixture is reduced by half, about 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Mini Bacon Cups
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Turn a mini muffin pan upside-down and lightly coat the bottom with nonstick pan spray. Crisscross 3 pieces of bacon over each upturned cup, and then place another mini muffin pan on top so that the bacon pieces are compressed between the two pans.
Place the pans on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the bacon cups are crisp and browned, about 20 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside to cool completely. Lift off the top pan. Carefully remove the bacon cups from the bottom pan and place them on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain, wrong side up.
To Serve
Gently reheat the beans in a saucepan over medium heat until warmed through (add 1 tablespoon water if they’re too thick or dry).
Place a spoonful of the beans into each bacon cup. Serve.
Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until much of the grease has been released, but bacon is still flexible. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Stir together baked beans, onion, apple, brown sugar, ketchup, and mustard in a 9-inch square baking dish until well combined.
Ladle hot prepared baked beans into a hot jar to within 1 inch (2.5 cm) of top of jar (head space). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre sealing disc on clean jar rim.
Brine your beans while soaking them by adding a tablespoon or two of salt to the soaking liquid, a trick from Cool Beans author and bean guru Joe Yonan. It effectively brines the beans, making them both tastier and more evenly cooked as it helps to soften the beans' skins, improving the final texture.
Slowly caramelize a chopped onion in a bit of oil, then add bacon and cook until crispy. Add the can of beans and stir, making sure to scrape up any tasty bits that have stuck to the pan. To finish, toss in a pinch of espresso powder for an extra hit of earthy flavor.
Baking soda can help significantly since it increases the pH of the water, disintegrating that pectin and allowing beans to soften quicker. Baking soda also removes minerals from hard water, which can prevent beans from hydrating as quickly.
Baked beans, like most vegetables, can be frozen to maintain flavor and freshness. If you aren't planning to eat your leftover baked beans right away, freezing them can be a great alternative to letting them languish in the refrigerator until they go bad — great news if you're trying to fight food waste.
High acid foods, like pickles or tomatoes can be canned in a water bath canner. The jars are submerged in boiling water and processed for a specified time. Because baked beans are a low acid food they must be canned in a pressure canner to ensure that any bacteria are killed.
Canning your own baked beans is really simple! Other than rinsing and draining the beans, it's really just a matter of adding all the ingredients to each jar (dried beans, syrup ingredients and very hot water), then processing the jars. Beans are a low acid food so they must be pressure canned.
According to a detailed analysis, ounce for ounce, volume for volume, home-cooked beans are significantly more nutritious than their undrained, canned versions. However, once you drain canned beans, they look virtually identical to their home cooked cousins – except for the sodium.
Extra protein: Add diced ham, cooked ground beef, or shredded chicken to the baked beans for an extra boost of protein. Additional vegetables: Include diced green bell pepper, onions, or mushrooms to the recipe for added texture and flavor. Tangy: Replace yellow mustard with Dijon, whole-grain mustard, or dry mustard.
The liquid in good canned beans is just the water and salt the beans were cooked in… filled with delicious bean flavor. And this liquid is a great thickener for not only the specific dish you're making at the moment, but for any dish that could use some thickening, some salt, and some bean flavor.
And as our resident scientist food blogger, Clark Cassarella explains, when you boil bacon, you get perfect results every time. Why? The addition of water keeps the initial cooking temperature low and gentle, so the meat retains its moisture and stays tender.
For a four-serving batch of soup, chop up two to four strips of bacon into one-inch pieces. Fry them until crisp, then remove the bacon from the grease and let drain on paper towels. Cook your vegetables and aromatics in the bacon fat like you usually would, the proceed with your soup recipe.
I think this method works best when the bacon is cut before being cooked. First, remove the raw bacon from packaging and lay it on a large cutting board, keeping it stacked as it was in the package. With a sharp knife, cut the strips up and down, then side to side.
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