Thread: Bush's baked beans

I do not have a clue if this is anything near the taste of Bush's Baked Beans but here is a recipe for Baked Beans from Scratch.

Baked Beans from Scratch

Put 1 pound dry Navy beans into a large bowl. Cover beans with water. (the water level should be about 2 inches above the beans.) Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of salt into the water. Let beans soak overnight. Drain and rinse the beans. Put beans in a stock pot, cover with water and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans. Rinse the stock pot. Return beans to the stock pot and pour 6 cups of beef broth and 6 cups of chicken broth over them. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Drain beans (reserve the cooking liquid) and put beans in a large casserole dish (that has a lid) or a 9 x 11 inch baking pan (you will need to cover with aluminum foil).

Cook 1/4 pound of smoked bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon. Drain the bacon on paper towels, crumble it, and set aside. Add 1 large chopped onion and 1 minced garlic clove to the bacon drippings and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. The onion should still be a little crunchy.

In a bowl mix the onion, garlic and bacon crumbles with the following ingredients:

1/4 pound cooked Ham, diced into 1 inch squares
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup Tomato Sauce
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Powdered Mustard Seed
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground Cumin

Mix well and pour this mixture over the beans. Add just enough of your reserved liquid to barely cover the beans; stir to incorperate and smooth out level. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 3 hours. Stir once every hour or so and add additional reserved liquid as needed to keep the beans moist.

In a sauce pan combine: 1/2 cup Honey or packed Brown Sugar, 1/2 cup pure Maple Syrup or packed Brown Sugar, and 1/2 cup Molasses, 1 cup of reserved liquid and 1/2 tomato sauce. Heat just enough to make syrup pourable.

Remove bean pan from the oven, uncover and pour syrup mixture over the beans; stir to incorporate. Cover and return pan to oven. Bake 1 hour. Turn off heat (do not open the oven door). Let set several hours or at least until the beans (even at the bottom of the pan) are cooled. Enjoy!

Hope this helps. Thanks; Virginia

Thanks a lot. I'm going to try it this weekend. I've been on the search for this for a long time!!