Hi,

Jim Minion sent me this recipe back in November and I'm posting it here with the permission of the authors.

The recipe is a bit long, but Jim says the end result is great. You'd better have some friends to help you eat them, too, because it makes a lot of beans!

I would think you could do these beans on the lower grate in the WSM while cooking ribs or pork butt on the upper grate. Perhaps Jim will post a reply letting us know how he's done these beans in the WSM in the past.

Regards,
Chris

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Barbie's "Down South, 'Ole Home, Good 'Ole Boy, Southern Red Oak Smoked BBQ Beans"
Recipe By Barbie Lulejian, October 20, 2000

This recipe consistently turns out the BEST Smoked BBQ beans we and our guests have ever eaten. It is a relatively simple recipe to follow, and we have now modified it for superior results. We both sincerely hope you enjoy this!

Ingredients

• 1 Can of Bush's Original Baked Beans - undrained (From Sam's - 7 lb 5 oz can)
  
  
• 2 large yellow onions - chopped
  
  
• 2/3 cup BBQ sauce (any brand will do)
  
  
• 1 entire yellow bell pepper - diced
  
  
• 1 entire red bell pepper - diced
  
  
• 1/3 cup syrup - either maple or cane
  
  
• 1/3 cup molasses
  
  
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  
  
• 3 tsp dry mustard
  
  
• 1-1/2 cups BBQ pulled pork - chopped (from your last Que; outside cut is best; the beans will NOT be anywhere near as good without this, even if you have to cook some pork in the OVEN first!)
  
  
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  
  
• 1/4 tsp Chimayo* chili pepper (the REAL stuff!)
  
  
• 1/4 lb uncooked bacon slices - cut in quarters (an el cheapo brand works wonderful!)
  
  
• 3 tsp Texas Pete Hot Sauce** (this brand ONLY! - We MEAN THIS!)
  
  
• 1 shot Tabasco Sauce
  

* For a spicier recipe, this could be adjusted a tad upwards, but just a tad. And we do not suggest using less than 1/4 teaspoon. The Chimayo brand was suggested by Garry Howard and is one of the finest chili powders we have yet to use. We got ours in New Mexico while at the 1999 Q-Fest. We will only use this brand. Feel free to use whatever you can. A GREAT alternative, but sometimes hard to find, is the Gebhards brand.

** (Per Mikey): For a spicier recipe, this could be adjusted upwards. Sometimes I just squirt the plastic bottle in the beans until I feel they taste "right." So please feel free to use MORE! This is one of the many benefits of Texas Pete brand.

Procedure

Open can of beans and DO NOT drain the excess liquid from the can. Please know that this works successfully for us, as our smoked BBQ beans are cooked in the cooking chamber, nearest the heat source, for 6 hours! If you do not plan on cooking yours as long, you need to drain some of the excess liquid off. We discovered by NOT draining off the liquid, it resulted in a "moister" dish.

Select a suitable cooking pan. We particularly like to use a larger, flatter pan (teflon coated aluminum, for easier clean up later), so that it exposes the maximum surface area of the beans to the red oak smoke (other woods will do - we simply love the flavor red oak imparts).

In your pan, combine all of the ingredients, EXCEPT the bacon slices. Mix well. The bacon will be added later. (However, please note we most often add the bacon in the beginning.)

SUGGESTION: Coat the inside of the pan with Pam (optional).

You will notice that your mixture will start off quite "soupy." Place the pan in your smoker, nearest the firebox. This will allow the bean mixture to cook at about 250-275*F or so. If your temperatures are a little hotter, that's okay also. We just recommend letting the beans cook with the smoke for a long period. These are NOT to be rushed.

Do NOT let these cook at temps above 300*F or the beans will become dried out BEFORE they have had a sufficient time to cook.

Using a Bandera with a vertical smoke chamber, we place ours almost right above the water pan, about two or three shelf notches above the water pan. Being the lowest item, and having rib slabs and/or pork butts above it, allows the meat juices to drip down into your beans.

Plan on letting your beans cook about 4 to 6 hours. 4 hours really is NOT long enough. 5-1/2 to 6 hours is "right." YOUR total time will all depend on the temperature inside your cooker.

Stir the beans about every 30 to 40 minutes. Do NOT let a "crust" form on the top as it will impede the smoke flavor from getting into the beans.

After 3 hours, add the bacon slices to the top of the mixture. They will wind up getting stirred into your beans when you stir next time, and that�s fine.

When stirring your beans, make sure you also scrape the sides of the pan. There is no waste with this recipe. As they cook down, you will notice the mixture getting a little thicker each time stir it. After 5+ or so hours, the beans will be the right consistency. Nice and thick, but not dry. Remove the pan from your smoker.

IF your beans are getting dried out (before they are done), you can add moisture to them. Use 1/2 water and 1/2 any brand BBQ sauce.

If you want to know what is the "right' consistency, it is simple: If the beans remain very juicy with lots of surrounding liquid throughout about 3+ hours of cooking, you are doing fine.

When they are done, take your pan(s) into the kitchen and spoon into a serving dish.

You should, at that point, be the hit of the Party !!!

Good Luck,

Mikey and Barbie
Atlanta, GA - The HEART & SPIRIT of Dixie

The lower grate works very well, I use foil
conected to the top grate ( on the underside)to run fat from ribs or butt away from the bean pot.
I don't have red oak in the Pacific NW but have used white oak and fruit woods, they worked great.
If you don't have Chimayo chili pepper use
a New Mexican Chili pepper, the flavor will be close. Chimayo is an area in New Mexico,
Hatch peppers would work well also.
I also used another Hot sauce. The beans are outstanding, have used them while doing jobs for large groups and they are the first item to go away.
Good Q'n
Jim

Jim,

The recipe suggests letting meat juices from ribs or pork butt drip into the beans while cooking. Why do you place foil under the top grate to avoid this?

Regards,
Chris

I'm 265+ pounds now
How much higher do I need to go. I allow is small amount for flavor but for the full cook.
Jim

I needed a large recipe for BBQ baked beans and yesterday I experimented with a scaled-down version of Barbie's recipe (using three 28-oz cans of Bush's).

Sweet, yes, but not cloyingly sweet like most. These were the best BBQ baked beans I've tried so far. I thought the bell peppers might be overpowering (I found a recipe afterwards that incudes a green bell pepper in addition to the red and yellow), but they were fine and added an underlying piquancy to the dish that we really liked.

I'm working on scaling down the recipe further, to use only 1 (28-oz) can of Bush's for a small recipe. If anyone would like the small, medium, and large (all 3) recipe for the beans in a Word document, let me know (my email addy is in profiles).

I see that Barbie and Mikey are (or were) in Atlanta, as am I, and I would like to tell her how much we enjoyed her recipe. Does anyone have a contact for her? Privately would be fine. Or do she and Mikey have a website? So far I haven't seen one, but still looking.

Rita

EDIT 5/10/08: A round pan would make the most efficient use of the grate space and will ensure that the beans won't be too deep to cook down at a proper rate. SUR LA TABLE has a 14-inch by 3-inch Magic Line cake pan ($16.95) which is a perfect fit for the WSM’s bottom rack and holds one recipe using a 7 lb 5 oz can of beans. (A 2-inch deep pan would be full to the rim and hard to move around and stir).
.....One recipe of the beans will make about 25 (scant 1/2-cup) servings for average eaters. Since the beans freeze so well, I might buy a second pan and dedicate a separate cook for the beans.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rita Y,

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:
These were the best BBQ baked beans I've tried so far.

Rita

WOW! And I'm going to say that you have probably had a fair share of beans in your time, as have I. Rita that's saying something posting to a 7 year old thread. Thanks for the info on these. They are on the to do list very soon.

Bryan, I've had these on my To Do List for about 6 years and finally got to them. I think I've experimented with some recipes that just weren't that great.

I'd prefer to make the beans from scratch, so I put recipes with canned beans on the back burner, so to speak. I probably make the classic style baked beans only once or twice a year at best - we just prefer beans that aren't sweet, such as borrachos or charros beans. I left Barbie's Beans slightly soupier than the average person would as well. I was thinking of reducing the sweetness further, but I think most people like 'em sweet.

Rita, who shouldn't be thinking of cooking because it's forecast to be 98 to 103° in Atlanta tomorrow. ~80

Rita any help with the chili pepper powder. I don't have it or the other one that Mr Minion mentions.

Bryan, the red chile powder is from New Mexico red chiles, preferably the Chimayo area; a great dried whole or ground chile. I know that they can be ordered from:

http://santafeschoolofcooking.com/On-line_Market/Chiles/

I haven't had a chance to check SweetFreedomFarm and a couple of other sources. Penzey's doesn't seem to have them. If you can find whole, dried New Mexico chiles, they would be fine to use. Just toast them lightly in a dry skillet, cool, and grind.

I'll look into sources further tomorrow. Kevin Kruger will probably have a good source too.

Rita

Thanks much Rita. I was looking to make these beans and put them under a brisket on tomorrows cook. I'll figure something out. Thanks again, Bryan

Bryan, sorry if this is too late. There isn't much ground pure chile in the recipe, so the beans aren't really dependent on it. I think I doubled the amount in my last batch. I wouldn't add cayenne, but I'd think any ground red chile would work just fine, including ancho.

Rita

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Bryan, sorry if this is too late. There isn't much ground pure chile in the recipe, so the beans aren't really dependent on it. I think I doubled the amount in my last batch. I wouldn't add cayenne, but I'd think any ground red chile would work just fine, including ancho.

Rita

Thanks Rita. One of the Maint shop guys is leaving where I work for a really great job he was lucky to get with PP&L Electric Utilities Co. So I offered to smoke some butts and beans for his last day and I'm going to make these beans. The only thing i won't be able to do is stir them as the recipe calls for, I'll be sleeping. I'll put the pan of beans under the butts right before going to bed for the night and they are on their own till morning.

Chimayo To Go is a great source for red and green chiles, whole or powder. Right now is the time to order green, they'll sell out soon.

Bryan, how did the beans turn out in your overnight cook and without stirring them?

How many hours did you actually smoke the beans?

How many butts did you have above the beans?

Did you have to spoon off any of the butt fat that dripped onto them?

Did the smoke penetrate the skin on top of the beans?

Did you have to adjust their thickness?

Just checking
Rita

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Bryan, how did the beans turn out in your overnight cook and without stirring them?

How many hours did you actually smoke the beans?

How many butts did you have above the beans?

Did you have to spoon off any of the butt fat that dripped onto them?

Did the smoke penetrate the skin on top of the beans?

Did you have to adjust their thickness?

Just checking
Rita

Rita, I'm getting ready to mix em up right now.
They'll be going under 2 butts (17,5lbs) before I hit the sack tonight, around midnight.
I'll pull them off in the AM about 6:30 and take to work.
I have done beans like this once before when taking BBQ and beans to work. Last year I did a pan of beans under 2 briskets. They came out awsome and didn't have to skim off any fat. I'm hoping to get some of the fat out of the way, that's why I'll hold off to put these under the Butts as late as possible. I'll let you know tomorrow how they turned out. Bryan

Guess I got a little ahead of myself with the questions, Bryan. Did I mention that I did add the green pepper to the beans along with the red and yellow on my last cook? I liked the recipe that way. The peppers were not visible in the finished bean dish; they just melted right in.

I'll look forward to your comments. Have a good cook!

Rita

Well Rita, where to start at girl. OK, I tried to follow the recipe as close as possible, with one exception, the bell peppers. Not a huge fan and well they never stood a chance to get in the beans. For the chili powder I went with Chipotle, it's what I had. BBQ sauce I used up the last of my Blues Hog 1/3 cup and for the other 1/3 cup I used Head Country Hot. Not all that found of black strap moleasses so I used this fantastic Sorghum Moleasses I have, medium amber maple syrup and muscavado sugar. I used 1 lb of Bacon well almost, minus a few taste strips for the cook. I pre cooked the bacon just to eliminate some of the bacon fat since the butts were going to add their stuff to the mix Did not add any meat to the beans except for said fully cooked bacon. I was spent when I got everything done at 10 pm lastnight so I put the beans on early at 10:30 and said they are on their own, must go to bed now. They got a little too done on the top/crust but not burnt but very close, and one corner of the foil pan was in the hot zone on the lower grate and the beans got pretty dark in that corner. That said, everybody went Bonkers over then. I must have heard 10 awsome beans comments from the guys. I liked them alot but prob would have loved them if not for the over cooked part, prob being too critical but I think OH! what might have been. These are a keeper and might become my go to bean recipe.

Bryan, I'm delighted that the beans turned out so well for you, especially considering all your adaptations! Did you catch the recent thread about trying a recipe as written? (Just kidding) I'll make notes of your changes in the recipe as a variation.

I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of peppers in my tomato pasta sauces and was leery about putting so many in the beans. But darned if I didn't really appreciate the small background of piquancy or freshness or lightness that they added and the fact that no one would ever think "oh...peppers" when they ate them.

Glad that you were so detailed about how you did them...you always come through!

Rita, who is still chuckling

Made up another batch of these tonight. Going under 2 Butt's in a few min till morning. Taking the Butts and beans to work for lunch for a fellow worker who is leaving for greener pastures.

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Did you catch the recent thread about trying a recipe as written? (Just kidding)

Girl, I know I'm so very late on this....... but you know I always have to make it my own. It's just the way I am. I really do love this bean recipe, It Is my go to bean recipe!