Making Sweet Barbecue Restaurant Beans Your kids are probably not gonna like the traditional original Boston Baked Beans because the dominant taste is, well, beans. Most of us are used to the sweet stuff. Here's how you can amp these up the way barbecue restaurants do. This is how the beans in the picture above were cooked. Bake them below the meat. If you have a grill or smoker, put the beans uncovered in a pan in the indirect heat zone, below your ribs or pulled pork or beef brisket for 6 to 7 hours at 225°F. A 6 x 8" disposable aluminum pan will work. Resting beneath the meats, the beans will collect flavorful, smoky drippings from the meat, laden with seasoning from the rub. Check and stir every 30 minutes or so to be sure they don't burn or dry out. Don't worry, it won't hurt the meat if you open the lid. Add water when needed. Make them sweet. Make the recipe on the left and then taste them. Many folks love them this way. If you want them sweeter and richer, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sweet tomato based Kansas City style barbecue sauce. The exact amount will depend on the brand of sauce. Then taste again. Not sweet enough? Add brown sugar a tablespoon at a time. When it is just right, cook another 5 minutes. Amping them up. Add up to 1/2 pound of leftover barbecue rib meat or pulled pork or beef brisket at the same time you add the beans. Now that's what I'm talking 'bout!

Why molasses? Molasses is important because in colonial days Boston was a major importer of the sugar syrup from the Caribbean. It was made into rum which was sent to Africa to trade for slaves who were sent to the Caribbean to make more molasses. The Great Molasses Flood in 1919 killed 21 people and injured more than 100 when a vat exploded and unleashed more than 2 million gallons of the sticky stuff. According to newspaper reports, 30 foot waves of molasses crashed through the streets destroying buildings and sweeping with it horses and wagons. Molasses are also important because, according to Food Network's Alton Brown, it helps keep the beans from disintegrating and the sulfur content in the syrup disarms the components in the beans that cause Dads to say "pull my finger." Not sure how this works, but if Alton says so, it must be true. There are three grades of molasses and any one will work in this recipe. Click here to read more about molasses.

Simple Boston Baked Beans

They don't call it Beantown for naught. For it was in Boston that the notion of mixing dried beans with molasses was conceived and still reaches the peak of perfection.

Because beans could be dried and stored forever, they have been a popular source of protein for centuries. In France, stewed or baked beans reached their zenith in cassoulet, beans baked in an earthenware pot with sausages, poultry, pork, and even pork skins. In Spain it was Alubias con Arroz, Beans and Rice, often perked up with chorizo, a spicy sausage, or another version without the rice called Fabada. In Portugal it is Feijoada, beans, beef, and pork stewed together. In Germany Westphalian Stew was built on with bacon and beans.

The Boston bean tradition may have been pilfered from native North Americans. The Penobscot tribe in Maine was known to cook beans by digging a hole in the ground, lining it with large rocks, heating them by starting a wood fire, and then placing a clay pot of beans in the hole, covering it with dirt, and letting it simmer for up to eight hours.

Boston became a major port of entry for goods to the colonies, and among the highest volume imports was molasses, dark cane sugar from the Caribbean. Nobody knows who had the bright idea of baking beans in a pot with salt pork and molasses, but the canned combo now occupies miles of shelf space in every American grocery. Well, you can buy it canned, with all the additives and artificial ingredients, or you can make it right, from scratch, with real molasses. And it's easy.

These are not sweet!

The original Boston Baked Beans were baked in a earthenware pot, but it can be made in just about any pot or saucepan. The original was sweetened with molasses, but they were not as sweet as you expect them to be, and I have stayed true to tradition with this recipe.

If you want sweet barbecue restaurant style beans, instructions are to the right.

Recipe

Makes. About 4 servings of about 1 cup each
Preparation time. 1 hour
Cooking time. 4 to 5 hours

Ingredients
6 strips thick bacon or 1/4 pound of pork fatback
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1/2 pound dried Navy beans or pea beans
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon table salt

About the beans. You can use canned beans if you wish. Canned beans will cook much more quickly, in 30 to 60 minutes. If you use dried beans, follow the instructions there for soaking them. Don't discard the soaking liquid. It's got good stuff in it. Read my article The Zen of Beans first.

Optional add-ins. At the beginning of the cook, add a pinch of cinnamon and/or a pinch of ground pwdered cloves. A teaspoon of lemon juice and/or some diced jalapeños before serving can provide lift.

Do this
1) Soak dried beans as described in my article The Zen of Beans. You can use plain unseasoned canned Navy beans. They don't need soaking and they can finish cooking in an hour or 2.

2) You can cook in the indoor oven, or set up your grill for 2-Zone cooking and preheat it to 325°F in the indirect zone. Get a large heavy pot with a lid.

2) Over the hot part of the grill, on the sideburner, or indoors on your stovetop, warm the pot and add the bacon, lid off. Grill top off, cook the bacon (or fatback) until brown on both sides, but remove it before it is hard and crunchy. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat and save it in the fridge for another day. If you are not using bacon and are using leftover barbecue meat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the pot.

3) Add the onion and cook until it is limp, but not brown.

4) If you used dried beans, add 3 cups of hot water (you can use the soaking water), or if you used canned beans, add 2 cups hot water, and then the beans, molasses, mustard, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and stir. Cut the bacon into chunks about 1/4" and add them. Stir thoroughly, bring to a boil, move the pot to the indirect side as far away from the heat as possible, stir, and cover it. Close the lid on the grill or put them in your oven.

5) If you are cooking on a grill, every 30 minutes rotate the pot 1/4 a turn so one side is not always facing the heat, and stir, scraping the bottom, to prevent the beans from sticking to the bottom and burning. If the beans begin to dry out, add water. Taste the beans to see if they're the right tenderness for you after about 3 hours if you used dried beans, and 1 hour if you used canned. If they are too runny, take the lid off. It may take another hour for the excess to evaporate. Exact cooking time will have to do with the variety of bean, how long you soaked, your grill, the weather, and other variables. Just before serving, taste and add salt, pepper, or more molasses if you like.

You can cook them indoors

This page was revised 1/2/2012