Memorial Day weekend is upon us here in the US and that often means backyard barbecues to celebrate the beginning of summer. I remember that this holiday usually fell about one week or two before the end of the schoolyear for me and it was often nice enough to go to a nearby lake and spend the weekend getting a bit of a sunburn! Burgers and hot dogs on the grill just seemed to taste better after being out in the sun all day. At parties my mom would often serve a crock pot of baked beans with little cocktail sausages mixed in that were delicious! It was pretty much just doctored up canned baked beans. I never asked her for a recipe as she would just add a dash of this or that etc. I think that is why this following recipe appealed to me. It uses canned baked beans but amps up the flavor with lots of add-ins to the effect that it becomes a main dish on it’s own.
What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions.We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!
Gina Mae’s Baked Beans
from Food and Wine
by Regina Bradley
ingredients:
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3 bacon slices
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1 pound 85% lean ground beef
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¾ cup finely chopped Vidalia onion (can use sweet yellow onion if not available)
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3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
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½ teaspoon kosher salt
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½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
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1 cup barbecue sauce (such as Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce)
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¼ cup light brown sugar
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2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
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1 tablespoon smoked paprika
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1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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2 (22-ounce) cans baked beans (such as Bush's Bourbon and Brown Sugar Grillin' Beans)
directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place bacon slices in a single layer in a 12-inch skillet. Cook over medium-low, flipping occasionally, until browned and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels; reserve drippings in skillet.
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Increase heat under skillet to medium, and add ground beef. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is crumbly and just browned, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Push beef to one side of skillet; tilt skillet to let drippings drain to empty side. Using paper towels, carefully soak up drippings; discard.
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Return skillet to heat over medium, and add onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add barbecue sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, paprika, and cinnamon; stir until well combined. Stir in baked beans, and bring mixture to a simmer over medium, stirring often. Pour mixture into a 2 1/2-quart baking dish.
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Bake beans, uncovered, in preheated oven until bubbling in center, about 50 minutes. Crumble bacon evenly over top, and bake 10 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Now, if you have the time and want to do some really good New England style baked beans from scratch then I highly recommend this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen:
New England Baked Beans
from The Complete America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook 2001-1019
ingredients:
- Salt
- 1 pound (2½ cups) dried navy beans, picked over and rinsed
- 6 ounces salt pork, rinsed and cut into 3 pieces
- 1 onion, halved
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 bay leaf
directions:
- Dissolve 1½ tablespoons salt in 2 quarts cold water in large container. Add beans and let soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well.
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine beans, salt pork, onion, molasses, sugar, soy sauce, mustard, pepper, bay leaf, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 4 cups water in large Dutch oven. (Liquid should cover beans by about ½ inch. Add more water if necessary.) Bring to boil over high heat. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are softened and bean skins curl up and split when you blow on them, about 2 hours. (After 1 hour, stir beans and check amount of liquid. Liquid should just cover beans. Add water if necessary.)
- Remove lid and continue to cook until beans are fully tender, browned, and slightly crusty on top, about 1 hour longer. (Liquid will reduce slightly below top layer of beans.)
- Remove pot from oven, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes. Using wooden spoon or rubber spatula, scrape any browned bits from sides of pot and stir into beans. Discard onion and bay leaf. (Salt pork can be eaten, if desired.) Let beans stand, uncovered, until liquid has thickened slightly and clings to beans, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve. (Beans can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
If you are looking for more Memorial Day ideas may I suggest perusing this diary for links to various WFDs that feature salads:
What's for Dinner? v15.25 -- Index of Salads
That was put together as part of a whole indexing that esquimaux put together for the years 2014-2021 here:
What's for Dinner? v16.01 - Master Index 2014-2021
You can always peruse more recent entries by going to the group homepage here:
What's for Dinner?
Thanks for stopping by and please feel welcome to pull up a chair and join the discussion in the comments!
What are you cooking or eating this weekend?
