You Are What You Eat

Growing-up in the 1960s this meal was a staple (and family favorite) in our household.

Mom would repurpose boiled taters leftover from a previous night's dinner, cut them-up and throw them in a fry pan with reserve bacon drippings from the crock in the fridge, toss a whole ring baloney in a pot of boiling water and empty a can of Campbell's Baked Beans in a saucepan on the stove top to reheat.  She would serve the baloney cut in one-inch chunks with the skin-on.

Yum!

I fixed a similar dinner yesterday with my own spin on it.  

Since there are only two of us, I cut a venison ring baloney in two (returning half to the freezer for deer camp), skinned the remaining half and sliced it on the bias. cutting the slices into four triangles.  I browned them lightly and set them aside on a paper towel.  Following that I put two cups of  homemade baked beans (from the freezer) in a foil-covered Pyrex in the oven at 400F.

I brought a couple of big teaspoons of duck fat up to speed in a clean fry pan and added an envelope of unseasoned Simply Potatoes and covered it.  

Flipped the taters, added another teaspoon of duck fat and put the lid on the pan.  Flip at least one or two more times as the taters brown. 

Before serving add back the fried baloney, stir, cover and hold on low burner for 5-6 minutes.

Serve.

Jill says this was a staple in their household so it's likely this has some sort of German influence.

We both agreed my version is better that what we grew-up with.  Easy comfort food and great chow if you can get it.  

We got leftovers too.

Gastronaut

Aside from the nod to hearing sounds in the vacuum of outer space this is rather funny...

How to Make Homemade Baked Beans

Grace’s Baked Beans

My mom – Grace - made the best baked beans around.  Originally her mom’s (my grandmother) recipe it is the only one I’ve ever known.   I have the original index card mom carefully typed for me more than four decades ago.

It happens to be one of those throw-back dishes that bring fond memories of family cookouts of the past to the present.   And being a traditional family summer side dish it has been handed down over the years.    My daughter has it too making her the fourth generation bean baker.

This is straight-up baked beans – nothing fancy – and a simple formula too.  If you like hearty, flavorful, old-fashioned, homemade baked beans follow this blueprint.  With a pot of these in your oven your kitchen is going to smell magnificent!

Serve with grilled burgers, hotdogs, chicken, brats, chops, steaks, roast pig, venison or make ahead for tailgating at the game.  Just heat them-up in a foil pan on the Weber.

Canned beans are survival food.

Ingredients

2 - Cups of Navy Beans

½ - Cup of chili sauce

1 – Tsp vinegar

1 – Medium onion (chopped)

2 – Cups of bean liquid

¼ - Pound of bacon (chopped) – omit for vegetarian beans

2 – Tsp salt

½ - Tsp dry mustard

½ - Cup molasses

Directions

Rinse and soak the beans overnight

Add bacon and enough additional water to submerge your beans and plenty to spare.  Cover and simmer over low heat until tender.  To know when they're ready spoon a few beans from the pot and blow on them.  If the skins split you are there.

Drain – being certain to save all of the bean liquid.  DO NOT rinse the cooked beans.

Pour the drained beans into a casserole, combine and add all of the remaining ingredients and stir.

going into the oven

Bake at 300 degrees , uncovered, for 6 hours.  Add more bean liquid or water as necessary.   

 halfway point - three hours

Oven temperatures vary so your baking time may be shorter or longer.  Low and slow is the secret so allow ample time for your beans to cook.

 

finished in a slow cooker

This recipe is easily expanded depending on the crowd at your BBQ.  Last weekend I made a triple recipe for a reunion of the cousins on mom’s side of the family.