Southern BBQ Baked Beans

Grilling season is here and what's a barbecue without baked beans--I mean I could make a meal off of them alone, especially if they are this good.

Go grab your cast iron skillet and lets get cooking!
You do have a cast iron skillet, right?

OK, if you don't, you really need one, it will be the best twenty dollars you ever spent.  It cooks on the stove top, oven, grill, campfire--you can even turn it over and use it like a pizza stone, and everything tastes baked beans taste better cooked in cast iron.

The best baked beans start with canned pork and beans, then bacon.  Some people just lay raw strip of bacon of bacon over top the beans, it ends up just being a gummy greasy mess on top of the beans.  Still tastes good, but cooking the bacon first fixes the gumminess.

 

Then onion and bell pepper, sauteed in bacon drippings.  I didn't, but you could add a clove of garlic or two if you like.

Then a little sweet and heat--BBQ sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, and Tabasco. 

Mix it all up and and pour it back into the skillet and bake until thick and beany-HA



Southern BBQ Baked Beans

2- 15 oz cans pork and beans

5 bacon slices

1/2 large onion, diced

1/2 large green bell pepper diced

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

a few dashes hot sauce, to taste

In a 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet cook the bacon, the bacon should not be limp or cooked crisp.  Remove bacon from the skillet and place on paper towel lined plate; set aside.  Pour the bacon drippings from the skillet, leaving about a tablespoon.  Add the onion and bell pepper, season with salt and pepper; saute until soft.  In a bowl combine the pork and beans, sauteed onion and bell pepper, barbecue sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, and hot sauce.  Pour back into the cast iron skillet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until they thicken.