Accidentally vegetarian baked beans

These were supposed to be pork and beans. (Don't tell my rabbi.) Unfortunately, the kielbasa that I bought was spoiled when I opened it. Thanks, Shop Rite!

It didn't matter. Despite the imperfections that I will enumerate below, these were far and away the best baked beans I've ever made or had. The bourbon added a real sophistication of flavor that I would never omit again.

It also corrected two mistakes from my previous attempts at baked beans: first, the onions were completely caramelized, which got rid of sulfuric off notes.

Second, the beans were cooked ahead of time. Who knew this was necessary? It seemed like 10-12 hours of cooking, after already being cooked once, would reduce them to mush. That was not the case at all.

Based on this recipe for barbecued beans:

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/05/crockpot-bacon-bourbon-baked-beans/

I didn't see the need to shell out for "barbecue sauce" (why?) so I adapted this recipe, which consists mostly of things already in the bean recipe:

http://www.simplyscratch.com/2011/09/homemade-barbecue-sauce-part-1.html

I also prefer large white beans ("great northern" beans) to small white beans ("navy" beans).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb dry great northern beans
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1/2 head garlic, roughly minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/8 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1 cup bourbon (I used Elmer T Lee--Jim Beam probably would have been fine)
• 1 3/4 tbsp homemade brown mustard (first batch)
• 1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pick over and rinse beans. "Quick soak" the beans by boiling them for 2 minutes, then removing from heat for 1 hour. Drain, fill with fresh water, and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil. 
3. Drain beans. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook for 10 hours.
4. Remove beans from heat and let sit for several hours to thicken before eating.

NOTES:

• Way too much brown sugar. I would use half as much next time.
• If you don't use any meat, it needs salt. Probably more than the 1/2 tsp I used.
• As I said, using such a complex (and expensive) bourbon as Elmer T. Lee was a waste. Also, it's a bit bitter, although this was nice.
• If you do use meat, reduce or eliminate the oil. Brown the meat and use the drippings to saute the aromatics.
• One could use substantially more beans and still have plenty of sauce. I was serving it 1:1 with quinoa and there was loads of sauce for the quinoa!

I am going to try using 1 1/4 lbs beans next time. I am also going to try using some uncased German sausage, or other sweet garlic sausage like Andouille. I will also use only 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Mustard, take 2

I made a new batch of mustard, identical to the first except for two things:

• 30% yellow mustard seeds (3 oz yellow, 7 oz brown).
• Coarse grind--only 3 minutes.

The flavor of the new mustard, immediately after grinding, was much milder than the flavor of the old mustard, which is now more than a month old.

That said, there's less than 1 cup of mustard left from the first batch. That means that I went through more than three cups of mustard in a month. Evidently, I liked it just fine... :-)

This batch was extremely well-received by the people to whom I gave each jar. My brother in law said the only thing that makes it less than perfect is that it had too much kick. So I will go for even more yellow next batch.