# Not-too-sweet baked beans?



## fowldarr (May 24, 2014)

I have this problem.  I love the idea of baked beans, but most are too sweet for my taste.  Anybody have a not-too-sweet recipe?


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## fowldarr (May 24, 2014)

Alright, here is what I did, since the smoker was on, I grabbed some cans of ranch beans (the black cans) poured them in a aluminum pan, added a can of Campbell's bacon and beans, some diced bell peppers and onion, some left over smoked pork shoulder from last weekend, salt, pepper and other seasonings, topped with some bacon.  I'll let you know how it goes.


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## fowldarr (May 24, 2014)

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__ May 24, 2014


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## fowldarr (May 24, 2014)

They came out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.


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## oldeboone (May 24, 2014)

I use black molasses in mine. Ernie


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## potliquor (May 31, 2014)

Looks a little dry, I like mine a little soupy but not too much.

If you want to develop your own recipie you have to decide if you want to start with canned or dry beans. Then you need just a basic recipe to tweak which it looks like you have.

Since you don't want them sweet just add less sugar and use a less sweet bbq sauce if you use it. It's not a bad idea to work your recipie down to rely on less finished products and more on basic ingredients like plain beans and tomato paste or something as a base that doesn't change and is fairly ubiquitous. Like a common brand of pork and beans, I can get a gallon can of them for three bucks and some change but they are pretty sweet. If you really want them more spice than sweet starting with dry beans would be the ticket I'd think. Nothing wrong with the ranch beans just I've never seen them in big cans so if you wanted to scale this up sometime it might be a little spendy.

AB's now and forever beans make a good starter for dry beans but I cook them to tender in water and drain before and pick up from there. I'm also partial to great northerns which his recipie uses.

ETA: Once and Future Beans they're called, I was kinda close.


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## fowldarr (May 31, 2014)

They do look dry in that picture but they were close to stew consistency.


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## fowldarr (May 31, 2014)

And a little on the soupy side of stew, if that makes sense


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## potliquor (May 31, 2014)

fowldarr said:


> They do look dry in that picture but they were close to stew consistency.



Another thing you can tell from the picture is they definitely aren't vegetarian. :biggrin:

They look good, I'm putting some in to soak today for tomorrow and am using hog jowl for the bacon part. Don't know if the rind is going to be good unless I let them go for a long time but shouldn't need much meat cause they'll have a brisket above them. I'm debating using a homemade sauce in them... Hmmm. Since I'm doing a brisket I don't want them too sweet which is why I'm in this thread and aren't doing my typical pork and beans base.

I'll try and keep track of what I use but sometimes I get carried away.


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## fowldarr (May 31, 2014)

I'm playing with mine today too, I have some ribs in the smoker, so I'll start putting the beans together here in a bit.


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## bluewhisper (May 31, 2014)

I'm with you on the not-so-sweet. And how about slipping in a new flavor like sage or oregano?

Look up baked beans on wiki and go to the History section.It looks like they trace back to several different traditions including Native Americans baking them over embers in a stone fire pit.


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## potliquor (Jun 4, 2014)

fowldarr said:


> I'm playing with mine today too, I have some ribs in the smoker, so I'll start putting the beans together here in a bit.


BBQ Beans

1 1/2 lbs dried Great Northern beans

1 lb sliced bacon cut into squares

1 onion chopped

2 green peppers chopped (or 1 large)

3 jalapeños seeded and chopped

1 tsp coarse ground black pepper

2 tsp kosher salt

2 cups BBQ sauce

2 cups reserved bean liquid

Cover beans with four inches of water and soak overnight

Drain and rinse beans throughly and then simmer in a stockpot until tender, not too much, but TENDER!

Reserve a couple cups of the liquid and drain the beans again and let cool

Render the bacon in a pan until its given up most of the fat but isn't crispy, it should still be soft but brown around the edges.

Remove bacon and add the onion, green pepper, jalapeños, salt and pepper to pan.

How much fat to leave is up to you but slow cooking the beans takes quite a bit, very little should probably be removed unless you are doing the beans under meat in a smoker.

Sauté until the vegetable mix is soft.

Mix the beans, bbq sauce, and reserved bean liquid, and transfer to your pan.

Cover top with bacon and smoke at 250-275 for three to four to six hours, your preference.

It's really better done under a butt or brisket the last four to five hours to smoke.

Original without BBQ sauce

1 1/2 lbs dried Great Northern beans

1 lb sliced bacon cut into squares

1 onion chopped

2 green peppers chopped (or 1 large)

3 jalepeno's seeded and chopped

¼ cup tomato paste

¼ cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup molasses

vegetable broth

¼ tsp cayenne

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp kosher salt

don't know on method because I don't do it like this....

Maybe I'm dumb but what is the deal with pictures on this site? They need the actual url?

Anyway, this works great but if you use a strong sauce use less and more bean juice and if not use more sauce, should be pretty liquidy going in.


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## potliquor (Jun 4, 2014)

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Ok, well they have to be on site I guess.


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## potliquor (Jun 4, 2014)

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Beans underneath.













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And done, needs more heat and spice but adjust either with your sauce or throw some orange habenero powder in there. I had to keep it in the lines.


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## fowldarr (Jun 12, 2014)

Very nice


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## skully67 (Jun 22, 2014)

Wow!! that looks really good.

thanks for sharing


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## dmcmanus41 (Jul 5, 2014)

Thanks for the recipe, am giving this a try today on my first (ever) smoke!


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