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On an archived post, I found a link to Alton Brown's recipe for baked beans, which could easily be done in a cookshack:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13881,00.html

I'm thinking about trying this in the smoker, setting the beans right under the pork butt. If anyone has tried this, I'd like to know how it worked. One thing I've been debating: the beans will get done before the shoulder, so I could put it in towards the end (last six hours), but then I'll miss a lot of the drippings and smoke flavor. If I put it in earlier, how much will a cast iron dutch oven (preheated on the stovetop) change the dynamics of the cook-should I plan for a longer smoking time?
thanks
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Put the beans in during the last few hours of cooking. Then most of the fat will have rendered out of the pork. You will still get some fat from the shoulder if you put the beans under the shoulder. It will help the flavor of the beans a lot. Heat the beans first in the oven or on the stove to a temperatue higher than smoker is set. This way, the beans won't cause the temperature in the smoker to drop while they come up to temperature.

If you have a personal favorite among the commerical canned beans, like Bush's, start with one or two large cans. Put them in a large foil pan. Add an onion quartered. Add four or five ceushed cloves of garlic. Add a quarter to half cup molasses. Add a quarter cup bourbon or sour mash. You get the picture. If you have some leftover smoked meat, add that. A smoked ham hock or two help.

Chili beans are good this way as well. Get a large can or two of pinto beans or Ranch Style beans. Toss in a quarter cup of fresh (preferred) or canned chopped green chiles per large can of pinto beans. Add a quartered onion and 4 or 5 cloves crushed garlic. Add a half teaspoon each cumin and ground oregano. Toss in a bay leaf. Add leftover smoked meat or ham hocks. Cook in the smoker just like above. If you cook this with Texas style brisket, the guests will prefer the beans to the brisket.

Beans are good smoked. Everyone should try them.
Thanks for all the feedback-the beans are just about done. I followed Alton Brown's recipe-posted above-with a couple of minor exceptions-I used beer instead of vegetable stock and threw in a couple of minced garlic cloves. I put the beans in the smoker when the butt was at about 170, so it was getting close to done and probably didn't get a lot of drippings. Long story short, they turned out great. I like my beans mushy, so I let them go all day (8 hours) but you could get away with 5-6 hours no problem. This is going to be a fixture with the pork shoulder from now on, and, along with coleslaw, makes feeding a crowd easy.

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