Baked Beans 01 : Cast-Iron Skillet

When I was home in July, I bought a ceramic bean pot from the thrift store my mother kept telling me I really should visit. She was right. Of course. I had visions of beans sunning themselves in the blue glow of my brown gas oven in their matching brown bean pot. The bean pot did not make it home in one piece, unfortunately. So that dream was dashed, however, it did get me to thinking about baked beans and the fact that I have never cooked baked beans from scratch.  They've always started out as a can of Bush's Baked Beans which have been subsequently doctored with brown sugar, ketchup and/or BBQ sauce. Oh yeah, and maybe some mustard.

Despite the demise of the cute bean pot, I pressed onward when I picked up the "Cast-Iron Skillet Cookbook" at my nearby Barnes & Noble. Jackpot!! I am such a sucker for any recipe that calls for a cast-iron skillet. I don't know what it is, do I think that the recipe automatically HAS to be great if it's cooked in an iron skillet? Do I think that somehow I have a window into the past by simply using this tool? It's definitely a bit of both. I also love the versatility of the iron skillet, easily cooking to perfection on either the stove top or in the oven.

However, it seems I cannot read a recipe. I thought the recipe said to add all the ingredients, but in reality it said to save the salt for last. Duh, I should've known this. Always salt at the last moment with beans or else they won't absorb the water. The other problem I had, and this was not my fault, was that the recipe said to only soak the beans for 1 hr. I questioned this, but I thought I would give the recipe writers the benefit of the doubt. I ended up having to cook these beans for over 5 hours when it was only supposed to take 3. I could've cooked them longer, but I really wanted to go to bed already. That having been said, I thought these beans were quite satisfactory considering my mistakes. It was exactly what you think of when you think baked beans. I love how the onions get cooked up in the leftover bacon grease--one ingredient lending something to the next. When making this recipe again, I will remember to add the salt last and soak the beans overnight to reduce cooking time. And have a bunch of people over because I am SO over baked beans right now.


The next Baked Beans recipe I'll attempt will be from the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook and is a vastly different recipe, quite nontraditional in its ingredients.

Best Baked Beans from The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook: Recipes for the Best Pan in Your Kitchen by Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne

Makes 12 Servings
8 cups cold water
2-3/4 cups (1 lb) dried Great Northern Beans
4 strips of bacon
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 cup beer, preferably pale ale
2 cups water
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 maple syrup
1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tblsp light brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt

1. In a large stockpot, bring the cold water to a boil over high heat. Add the beans to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let soak for 1 hour. (This is what the recipe says, but I say just soak your beans in the water overnight.) Drain in a colander and rinse the beans.

2. Heat a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet (the larger the better) over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until golden, turning once. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel, pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat.

3. Return the skillet to medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits from the bacon, until golden brown. Add the beans, beer, water, molasses, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, dry mustard, and paprika. Coarsely chop the bacon and add it to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low (or place the skillet in a 250 deg oven) and cook, covered for 3 hours. Add water as needed to keep the beans covered. During the last half hour of cooking, remove the lid and don't add any additional water to the beans. When the beans are done, stir in the salt just before serving.