Beans

My sister-in-law has been posting a lot of recipes on her blog, but they're all, you know, vegetarian, filled with twigs and acorns and such. Here's a decidedly non-vegetarian recipe for the best beans we ever ate, at the Democrats Abroad Christmas party last month. A bit labor intensive, but so good that I will have to actually try to make them some day:

Bill’s Baked Beans

Start with Slow Cooked Beans in 4 to 5 litre Crockpot Slow Cooker

375m White Beans (Great Northern or Cannelloni Beans) Big batch 500m size

1 large salty meaty ugly smoked ham hock ( the more white residue visible on the hock the better, it is not pretty, not meant to be – If I can’t get a good big hock, I use 2 smaller ones, (try for 750g to 1 kg total wgt) if using a 5 litre cooker, 500g to 600g if a smaller cooker)

The beans need to be checked for foreign material (rocks & discoloured beans removed), rinsed, then soak for at least 4 to 6 hours, then rinsed again before using. I add the hock to the cooker, (rinse in water only, the smoking process leaves lots of flavour), cover it with the soaked rinsed beans, then add water to cooker to cover beans by at least 1-2inches, even if it is almost to the top of the cooker

Slow Cook overnight, usually starting right before you go to bed. Then cook for 9 to 12 hours using the Auto setting on most cookers. (This is also a stage that they can be served as an especially good soup, but it is so good that you eat too much to finish the baked bean variety, you need to eat them as soup at least once in this experimentation process).

Let cool for at least an hour, then thoroughly remove Bones and Fatty outside from Hock (yes, you do get your hands dirty this way). Be careful as there are some small bones in most hocks, (usually like knobs from the ends of bones). While doing this, I tend to break up the large chunks of ham from hock into smaller pieces to distribute this slow cooked ham throughout the dish evenly

I then discard waste, then put remaining bean mixture to fill 2/3 of a large Pyrex baking dish (putting aside any leftover excellent ham hock bean soup away to have
on it’s own)

Then add to your mix

2 large cloves of Garlic crushed

1/3 cup of Smokey BarBQ Sauce (optional, use your favorite or KC Masterpiece from USA foods)

1 large onion chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup Heinz Ketchup (Aussie tomato sauce poor substitute, but works in a pinch)

1/3 cup American Style Mustard

1 Small Jar Tomato Paste (or ½ of a medium jar)

½ Teaspoon Black Pepper

Combine all of the above ingredients into the bean mixture, then cover the entire top of the dish with the bacon (trimmed of thick rind if Rashers)

6. Large Bacon Rashers or 10 pieces of Streaky Bacon

Cook at 160 degree medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes, (Just til the bacon starts to crispy up, but do not overcook til burnt, I tried it once, and not as good with burnt bottom of pan…

Variations to the recipe:

• I like these with less Black Pepper, but a good bit of Cayenne Hot Spice to taste…be careful
• As an addition, some people add a couple of Teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce. (good this way)
• Two teaspoons of Jack Daniels, or any good bourbon never goes awry with this recipe