Boston Beer Baked Beans
Why this one?
We're a big fans of beans in our house, smokey, sweet and deeply comforting they are something we've tried many times with varying success. Therefore when I saw Boston beans in SLOW I added them to my wish list of cooks.
Most bean recipes we've done have been BBQ beans, these are good but for me can be a bit over sweet and taste a little artificial, you know how some BBQ sauces can be like that too. But these Boston beans didn't claim to be BBQ'ey so I had high hopes.
Now let me tell you a story about getting hold of the base bean, dried white haricot. Not a particularly unusual bean but apparently during lock down a product as rare as flying pigs. I'd looked in ASDA, Tesco and Holland and Barratt with no luck. At one stage my desperation to make these beans resulted in my buying 2 tins of the cheapest supermarket beans with the intention of washing the tomato sauce off - I think I had been caught up in the bubble of thrifty chef Jack Monroe of Daily Kitchen Live. Eventually after the bean dish being pushed from week to week on the meal plan, I ordered some beans from Amazon.
Find the recipe here...https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/go-slow-gizzi-erskines-comforting-stews-ragus-one-pots/
Any substitutes?
No thyme - I didn't have this which is why I didn't use it
No cloves - until writing this blog I didn't know this was in the recipe, I completely missed it off the ingredients list - oops!
The actual cooking of the dish
If you want to make these you need to start early - soaking the dried beans the night before. At least I remembered to do that.
Something I really like about this book is that the dishes tend to be able to be prepared in stages, so although they might seem like they take ages, they don't actually. This works perfectly for me and my life, this recipe was no exception.
I had to cook the beans, unfortunately I forgot to set my timer so the beans may have been boiling longer than the recipe said, the only thing I noticed was that some of the papery skins of the beans had come away but not much I can do about it now.
Next make the sauce, this called for a whole bulb of garlic cut in half. This took up a lot of thinking time, should I remove the dry husk on the outside, do I have to remove the skin of each, oh what am I to do? I think a little more clarity would be handy! In the end I removed the outside layers and the root and cut it in half. Not sure if this was right or not. Then all the other ingredients were added and just simmered away and then blitzed.
Next add the beans to the sauce and bake in the oven for 3 hours.
As you know I am stickler for the right sauce consistency and had to resist peering in the over and removing the hat of the casserole pot to have a little look.
Where I ate it
Next post this section is being removed. We might as well sell our dining table considering the amount we use it!
What I thought
Multi-layered in terms of taste, a hint of sweetness but not too much, a satisfyingly viscous sauce and tender beans. It was nice but not out of this world.
As in the book I served ours with jacket potatoes, sour cream and avocado, this combo was very pleasant but I don't think, for me it beats the utterly divine combination of cheese and standard Heinz/Branston beans.
In summary, they are good and we will enjoy eating them up but I am unlikely to make again.
Difficulty: Easy minus decide how to cook a halved whole garlic bulb.
Tastiness rating: 6/10
Next time I'd....If I did do them again I might serve them as more of a side and less as the center piece of the dish. Perhaps part of a BBQ or with a slow cooked piece of meat
We're a big fans of beans in our house, smokey, sweet and deeply comforting they are something we've tried many times with varying success. Therefore when I saw Boston beans in SLOW I added them to my wish list of cooks.
Most bean recipes we've done have been BBQ beans, these are good but for me can be a bit over sweet and taste a little artificial, you know how some BBQ sauces can be like that too. But these Boston beans didn't claim to be BBQ'ey so I had high hopes.
Now let me tell you a story about getting hold of the base bean, dried white haricot. Not a particularly unusual bean but apparently during lock down a product as rare as flying pigs. I'd looked in ASDA, Tesco and Holland and Barratt with no luck. At one stage my desperation to make these beans resulted in my buying 2 tins of the cheapest supermarket beans with the intention of washing the tomato sauce off - I think I had been caught up in the bubble of thrifty chef Jack Monroe of Daily Kitchen Live. Eventually after the bean dish being pushed from week to week on the meal plan, I ordered some beans from Amazon.
Find the recipe here...https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/go-slow-gizzi-erskines-comforting-stews-ragus-one-pots/
Any substitutes?
No thyme - I didn't have this which is why I didn't use it
No cloves - until writing this blog I didn't know this was in the recipe, I completely missed it off the ingredients list - oops!
The actual cooking of the dish
If you want to make these you need to start early - soaking the dried beans the night before. At least I remembered to do that.
Something I really like about this book is that the dishes tend to be able to be prepared in stages, so although they might seem like they take ages, they don't actually. This works perfectly for me and my life, this recipe was no exception.
I had to cook the beans, unfortunately I forgot to set my timer so the beans may have been boiling longer than the recipe said, the only thing I noticed was that some of the papery skins of the beans had come away but not much I can do about it now.
Next make the sauce, this called for a whole bulb of garlic cut in half. This took up a lot of thinking time, should I remove the dry husk on the outside, do I have to remove the skin of each, oh what am I to do? I think a little more clarity would be handy! In the end I removed the outside layers and the root and cut it in half. Not sure if this was right or not. Then all the other ingredients were added and just simmered away and then blitzed.Next add the beans to the sauce and bake in the oven for 3 hours.
As you know I am stickler for the right sauce consistency and had to resist peering in the over and removing the hat of the casserole pot to have a little look.
Where I ate it
Next post this section is being removed. We might as well sell our dining table considering the amount we use it!
What I thought
Multi-layered in terms of taste, a hint of sweetness but not too much, a satisfyingly viscous sauce and tender beans. It was nice but not out of this world.
As in the book I served ours with jacket potatoes, sour cream and avocado, this combo was very pleasant but I don't think, for me it beats the utterly divine combination of cheese and standard Heinz/Branston beans.
In summary, they are good and we will enjoy eating them up but I am unlikely to make again.
Difficulty: Easy minus decide how to cook a halved whole garlic bulb.
Tastiness rating: 6/10
Next time I'd....If I did do them again I might serve them as more of a side and less as the center piece of the dish. Perhaps part of a BBQ or with a slow cooked piece of meat
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