Skip to main content

Pulled this off the old cookshack site, wanted to post some of the "best of".
Please add your information that you've learned so others may learn.

Had some fun this weekend.
I've got THE BBQ bean recipe that has worked for years in the oven with one of those "bean pots" that seems to steam them really well.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO being one of those experimental types, I bought a big cast iron dutch oven. Seasoned it (in the oven per the directions).

Smokin Okies Smoked BBQ Beans
  • 2 large cans of beans
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 5 large pieces of pepper bacon
  • 3/4 cup syrup
  • 1/4 cup onion
  • 1/2 cup homemade BBQ sauce




Directions:
I just use a large dutch oven, cooked them uncovered (hey, gotta get the smoke flavor) Since I was doing brisket, temp was 225, did them for 3 hours for smoke then covered them for 2, total 5 hours.

They were a little "soupy" and I think it's because at that temp, the liquid didn't have enough time to evaporate (and they were covered. Only recommendation about time, when I first wanted to pull them out, I tested them and they weren't tender enough. Just be sure to check them for tenderness.

MAN!!!!!!!! love that smoke flavor. Everyone who loved the old recipe noticed and definitely loved these better.

Now I'm looking forward to smoking soups and other things in the fall -- hey, the thing I love about the cookshack is that I do use it all year long.

Good Q'in 'ya
let us know your results.
smokin' okie
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I like the store bought. Some prefer to make their own. Not me. I buy the big #10 size cans and pour them in. I think the beans just weren't cooked long enough. I've done this recipe many times since the first time (this post is from last year some time actually) and they come out great. Usually I just throw them in the bottom with the ribs so they cook 4 or 5 hours and being on the bottom, they cook a little hotter.

Just goes to show...."they're done when they're done."

Smokin'
Hey Smokin,

Now would that be pork n beans or pinto beans, or what? And are these amounts of other ingredients for when you are using two # 10 cans?
I am better off when I can get all the information in detail.I am still somewhat of a black and white thinker,but i am trying to change.
Thanks for your patience,
Rocky



Rocky
Patience, what Patience, I answer the same question a 100 times and I have patience...

...just teasing.

Let's see, if I can find the reference, but a #10 can is really big...here it is:

br />
Can Sizes

6-ounce = ¾ cup
8-ounce can = 1 cup
Picnic can = 1 ¼ cups
12-ounce can = 1 ½ cups
No. 1 tall = 2 cups
No. 2 can = 2 ½ cups
No. 2 ½ can = 3 ½ cups
No. 3 cyl. can = 5 ¾ cups
No. 3 squat can = 2 ¾ cups
No. 5 can = 7 1/3 cups
No. 8Z tall can = 8 to 9 oz or 1 cup
No. 10 can = 12 to 13 cups
No. 300 can = 1 ¾ cup
No. 303 can = 2 cups

Here's what you do. Go to the store, buy not THE biggest, but the second biggest (you know, that place in the store where they have cans so big, you ask yourself, who would use those big ones, well NOT you).

Just look for Van Camps Pork and Beans in the bean second by 2 big cans. Of course this will depend on your pan. I just a cast iron dutch oven and put that in my smoker. Of course, my little smokette works great, and the oven just barely fits inside. I use my 150 smoker at the same
time.

So, if you want, test the recipe on a smaller batch. The ingredients are there, modifiy as you see fit.

You can also add other things, like Pintos or Navy or whatever. Some people like that (Mrs. smokin') but not me.

Also, I keep leftover pork butt or Brisket hand and throw a cup in for texture. Does that help a little more? Really, if there are more questions,ask, this is a Receipe that your friends will always ask you to make again. The smoke gives them a flavor noone else has. Noone (except this forum).

Just Smokin'
Last edited by Former Member
Smoking the beans...have always put beans in a tray (more surface, more smoke)...and placed tray under ribs, butts, briskets, to pick up drippings. Must be hellaciously bad healthwise, but it sure tastes good. In regular smoker I stirred once an hour. Just got Mod50, so will experiment. If you don't stir, you get a crust. But, that's not such a bad idea either, because it can be stirred when removed from Cookshack.
Yup, they pick up a ton of grease, none of which is good for you; all of which adds incredible flavor.


quote:
Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb]Great Idea.

Haven't tried "just the beans" but they will pick up a lot of grease off of whatever you cooking...don't they?

Just Smokin'[/qb]
After I finished posting and reading this recipe, I decided I needed to have some beans to go with the ribs I was trying to do. Knowing I was out of brown sugar and not copying down the above recipe I did the following: 3 cans Bush's (1 pound), about a quarter cup molasses, half cup chopped onion, about 1 tbs prepared mustard, and about 4 cloves of chopped garlic. Put it all in an open shallow half size steam table pan on the bottom shelf of my smokette.

The smokin beans were great, the ribs still need a little work.
Awhile back, Tom posted Jim Ball's recipe for beans in the smoker that caught my attention. Made a number of ingredient changes based upon personal taste preferences but the method remains the same. The end result was a home run that everybody requests whenever I'm smoking a butt, brisket, or ribs. Recipe follows:

Smoked Beans

2 tbs bacon grease
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced--seeds and membrane removed
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 15 oz cans Bush�s Baked Beans, drained
2 cups chopped brisket or pulled pork
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup favorite barbeque sauce
� cup pure cane syrup (Steen�s preferred) or dark molasses
2 tbs worchestershire sauce
2 tbs dry mustard
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs ancho powder
1 tbs prepared horseradish
2 tsp ground cumin
3 or 4 strips uncooked bacon � cut in 1� slices
Chipotle powder and / or cayenne to taste.

Saute the onion and bell pepper in the bacon fat until the onion is just starting to carmelize. Add garlic and continue to saute until the garlic starts to turn soft and color. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put the beans in a large bowl and mix in the chopped brisket or pulled pork. Add the reserved onion, bell pepper, and garlic and stir well until mixed. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, barbeque sauce, molasses, worchestershire sauce, soy sauce, ancho powder, dry mustard, horseradish, and cumin. Add to the bean mixture and stir until well mixed.

Taste and adjust flavors as desired by adding more brown sugar if not sweet enough or more barbeque sauce if not spicy enough for your tastes. Chiptole powder and / or cayenne can be added to boost heat. If the mixture looks too dry, add an appropriate amount of dark beer.

Pour the bean mixture into a disposable aluminum pan. Lay the sliced bacon strips across the top. Place the pan uncovered in your smoker directly under the meat you�re smoking for the last 3 � 4 hours of cooking. The beans are done when the bacon strips on top are done and it is hot and bubbly around the edges
Forgive my ignorance; I am a new at this smoke thing and learning oh so many things on this forum.

I seen just smoke the beans. You could do that w/o meat to get the smoke flavor yes?

What do you all use to keep the beans from sifting through the racks falling on the roof of the hot box and piling up on the bottom and plugging the drain?

I should assume you have soaked the beans to get them tender to absorb the smoke?

How long have you smoked them?

What woods have you found according to your taste make them Yummy?

Apparently the beans are in a sauce as well in Smokin�s post how often do you stir?
quote:
Originally posted by Mango:

Forgive my ignorance...

What do you all use to keep the beans from sifting through the racks falling on the roof of the hot box and piling up on the bottom and plugging the drain?


Okay, it was a good laugh, no actually it was a great laugh.

But think about it, if you're asking questions about beans, maybe one of us weirdo's actually made a rack to hold beans to smoke.

Don't give up on us Mango.

It's really pretty simple recipe, just mix everything up into a bean soup and smoke away. I try to stir them one every 30 min so they can get smoke flavor throughout. Everything, the sauce and the beans, picks up the smoke flavor.

Now, if you really want to talk about just "smoking beans" and not making BBQ Beans, let me know.

Smokin Wink
Last edited by Former Member
Bill, think about it.

Take a sheet of steel, drill holes, one for each bean and you could smoke the beans themselves before they ever hit the sauce.

I just think smoking the whole mixture is a whole lot easier.

But I've also thought about smoking the hops for my homebrew and I can't smoke the beer after I make it Cool
I suppose you could use a screen of some type small enough that the beans will not fall onto the wood box. I don't beleive the beans would take on much smoke while still hard so would probaley need to be soaked first. Hmmmm
I think I will just keep putting the finished product on the bottom rack and stir every once and awhile, love dem drippins!

Smoked beer?! hmmmmmm Generally that's how I end up after drinking too much anyway.

Been mulling around making my own brew. Getting tired of paying $7 a six pack for mediocore stuff.
Aloha

Thanks for the responses,

The beans falling were to be taken as humor and a real question. How do you? �Just smoke the beans� as one responder stated. in a SS colander or???? I want to learn.
As for the beans in sauce, my mind could not phantom the smoke absorbing into the sauce deeply if it were not stirred yet over and over I read opening door lengthens cook time. If you�re baking beans at the same time you have a juicy piece of meat dripping its liquid essence into the bean pot, tells me you�re going to extend the cook time.

I am a pretty logical person, sometimes slow, they tried to get me to school on the short yellow bus but I knew what it meant and refused to ride in it�. (True)

Since I have not been on the forum very long as many of you have, anyone new their sense of humor has not yet been learned by others. I meant no disrespect to anyone.

Had we been sitting around a Fast Eddie watching the smoke ascend into the upper atmosphere causing long winters bitter cold frosts and then the 118 degree phoenix summers (hello that�s been happening for thousands of years oh wait we have been BBQ for thousands years) and had a few brews. Then I popped the question(s) it would have been taken with the humor as you seen and responded too without any other hidden intent.

I am seriously learning, and asking questions, Ignorance is not bliss


Ps speaking of weirdo�s doing strange things, my boss who lives 4 stories above me, put the clamp on me be able to use my electric green bullet on the lanai. The fragrant essence was a nuisance to him.

After about a year of frustration I had a brilliant idea. All bathrooms in high rises have 24/7 exhaust fans. YES! I did and do� I smoke in the Boys room. Since it wafts over the roof top of our building, He figures it is coming from either Chef Roy�s restaurant or Stella blues. So Can I be a member of the stated club?

Mango
This forum is great!
Mango I commend you for adapting and overcoming the boss man! Smoking in the boys room I love it!
Went on a short bus ride last weekend for a bachlor party, was somewhat intelligent when I got on blathering idiot when I got off. Butt I had Q in the Cookshack and partied on knowing it would be perfect when I got home, and it was!
Oh I took it as humor, that's why I contributed my thoughts about a sheet steel to smoke the beans individually. Hard to "read" the meaning in the words via the internet sometimes insn't it?

Mango, you're certainly welcome here, if you can put up with OUR sense of humor (or lack of...sometimes)

Trust me. Make a pot of beans, put them under a butt that's smoking and in the hours in the smoker, it will take on plenty of smoke and you'll never go back to regular beans. It is a simple recipe that you can modify to your wishes.
Raider

I was not going anywhere.

Smokin

I knew you were joking I have a drill press if you would like to drill the holes for the beans.

Kathy

I understood they saw the humor I was just not sure if it was taken wrong. PS I am a Kane (look it up for your answer) use google type Hawaii and Kane, in the search.

All's well

Mango
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Rochman:
[qb] Smoking the beans...have always put beans in a tray (more surface, more smoke)...and placed tray under ribs, butts, briskets, to pick up drippings. Must be hellaciously bad healthwise, but it sure tastes good. In regular smoker I stirred once an hour. Just got Mod50, so will experiment. If you don't stir, you get a crust. But, that's not such a bad idea either, because it can be stirred when removed from Cookshack. [/qb]
This is the way they make beans at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City. They also chop up a bunch of pork butt and add that too. They are unbelievably delicious.
quote:
Originally posted by RaiderBill Largo, Fl:
quote:
What do you all use to keep the beans from sifting through the racks falling on the roof of the hot box and piling up on the bottom and plugging the drain?
rolling on the floor laughing my A%% off!~ Cool

ME TOO!READING THIS IS WEARING ME OUT.Answers are good but the questions are GREAT.Jimmy
I use Smokie's recipe with a few modifications. It gives a lot of bang for the buck wiht little additional work.

For the 3/4 cup syrup - I use 3/8 cup whiskey and 3/8 cup molasses. I have used any combination of molasses, honey, or maple syrup. A good bourbon or sour mash whiskey works well.

I add a few cloves of crushed garlic.

Instead of bacon it is worthwhile keeping some pulled pork that you have previously smoked around. If you have none of that, ham hocks work well too.

I usually add the beans these during the last 2 or 3 hours of cooking. To avoid the beans cooling down the smoker, I heat them up in the oven to the smoker temperature, or at least to the temperature of the meat when I put them in.

These are particularly good below a pork butt or brisket where the fat drips into them.

I cook themn in a foil pan. If they are too liquid, serve them with a slotted spoon.
Yes, the whiskey adds a lot of flavor and a wonderful smell. The alcohol vaporizes, so it is suitable for children. They do think they are getting away with a touch of evil when they eat them. Mine are 22 and 26 and love them :^)=

I figured you added the pulled pork, but since the original post didn't mention it, I thought I would. People need to know. The ham hocks are a really good substitution if you don't have the pulled pork.

Beans are great in the smoker and very simple. I use Bush beans, That dog sold me on them.
I follow Smokin's recipe with regards to all of the other ingredients, however I use a blend of beans:

1 can pork and beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can borlotti beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can butter beans

1 small can of each, the rest of the ingredients as per recipe, always a hit. I was thinking that a 1/4 cup of mustard might word well in it next time, because we always used to used mustard in our baked beans in the past.

Cheers,

Micah
quote:
Originally posted by micah:
...I was thinking that a 1/4 cup of mustard might word well in it next time, because we always used to used mustard in our baked beans in the past.

Cheers,

Micah


G'Day Micah.

Yes we've used mustard also. The fun part about beans is my recipe is a base and you can spend 20 years creating your own... fun to experiment

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×