Tuesday, March 25, 2014

STEVE'S BAKED BEANS

Here is another recipe from our recent New Dinner Club gathering. These baked beans were as good as any I have ever eaten. I have rewritten the recipe just as Dee sent it to me.  She didn't hesitate to let us all know at the dinner that her husband Steve had made them. When I asked for the recipe, she said he never made it the same way twice. So I told him to write up a general recipe he follows. Following is what Dee sent me....I just added "STEVE'S" to the title. They are his baked beans, afterall.


  
STEVE'S BAKED BEANS

3      31 oz cans of pork & beans (store brand is fine)
1       jar Smokehouse Baked Bean Sauce
1/4  lb. pulled pork
1      medium onion
1      small green pepper
1      Jalapeno (optional)
Hot sauce(s) (your favorite is OK)
Hickory Liquid Smoke
Bourbon Whiskey

Open all of the beans and drain as much of the tomato sauce off of them as practical. I use a colander placed over the garbage disposal in the sink. Pick out as much of the pork and pork fat as you see.

Place the beans and pulled pork in a oven safe dish that has an oven safe lid.

Add the baked bean sauce, add a little water to the jar and swish it around to get all of the sauce, and the diluted sauce to the beans as well. (don't worry the water will evaporate during baking)

Onion, green pepper and Jalapeno are a matter of taste, but I think the proportion is: If you use a cup of onion, then use about 3/4 cup of green pepper and 1/8 of a cup of Jalapeno. The onion and green pepper should be chopped to about 1/4 inch cubes, the Jalapeno should be about 1/2 that size. I take out the seeds from the Jalapeno to help control the heat.

Stir it up and taste.

The hot sauces I used in the beans were ones we brought back from Belize and might not be available here.

I used a little more than a 1/4 cup of Lissette's Secret Sauce - this is a thicker sweeter hot sauce (looks almost like sweet and sour sauce). Then I used a dash (or two) of Habanero Pepper Sauce (REAL HOT).

Stir and taste (add the hot sauces slowly and taste often).

Once you have the heat where you want it, then it's ready for the oven...if not add a little more of what it needs.

Now really all you are doing is cooking the beans down to the consistency you desire. I like my beans thick and not runny so this is how I do it. If you like them runny then you can shorten this process.

I start them off in a 325 degree F oven uncovered. I let them cook for about an 1-1/2 hour they should be bubbling and beginning to form a skim on the top. The beans are essentially done at this point and could be served, albeit a little runny for my taste.

I then turn the oven down to 250 degrees F and leave them uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour, at this point the sauce should look noticeably thicker and the top should be  browning slightly. When you get to this point, cover the beans and cook another 10 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

Steve

Here are some of the other dishes we enjoyed at the dinner:

FRESH BROCCOLI SALAD

BLT MACARONI SALAD

(LIGHT) CARROT CAKE




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