selfsufficientish
|
Baked beansOne of the few things I still have to go to a supermarket for is baked beans. Has anyone every tried to make their own? If so what were the results like?
|
jema
|
Re: Baked beans | selfsufficientish wrote: | | One of the few things I still have to go to a supermarket for is baked beans. Has anyone every tried to make their own? If so what were the results like? |
I have tried making baked bean type recipes, such a Boston Baked Beans out of Hughs meat book, but I can't say I have been over impressed by the results. But then again I suppose commercial baked beans rely on a load of suger.
jema
|
wellington womble
|
This is from Tuscan living (the no going back programme/book) I haven't tried it myself, but it seems to be more basic than the boston baked beans. I'm sure you could tweak it to your taste though, and improvise some of the ingridients.
800g tinned cannellini beans (or 340g dried, soaked overnight)
10 tomatoes, finely chopped (or 800g tinned)
2 leeks or red onions
4 teaspoons of sugar
oil
passata
salt and pepper
put beans, tomatoes, onion, and olive oil into an ovenproof dish. Add passata to cover, add sugar, salt and pepper. Stir, and bake at 160 deg C, for 20 mins, stir again and bake for 30 mins or until tender. You can freeze or bottle them.
|
selfsufficientish
|
sounds good will give it a go next week, cheers.
|
Gertie
|
I would be interested to know how the baked beans turns out. We buy a few tins for our local supermarket - well "every little helps" - I think the problem being that we all have an idea of what we expect something to taste like, and when it isn't exactly the same we can be disappointed.
Not wishing to bring this post down to gutter level, I have to say that hubby and baked beans don't always get on  Any ideas on how to utilise all 'that' hot air.
|
Bugs
|
Pretending you've not said that last bit Gertie  but ahem, you might want to read Slefsuciitentish's (Andy's) article on thyme, that's all I'm saying...
|
selfsufficientish
|
and my girlfriend wishes I took my own advice 
|
mrsnesbitt
|
free jacuzzi efect! You'd pay hundreds for one in the shops!
|
nettie
|
Yep Gertie send him up the stables to jet-propelled pooh-pick until it's all over!
|
selfsufficientish
|
| wellington womble wrote: | This is from Tuscan living (the no going back programme/book) I haven't tried it myself, but it seems to be more basic than the boston baked beans. I'm sure you could tweak it to your taste though, and improvise some of the ingridients.
800g tinned cannellini beans (or 340g dried, soaked overnight)
10 tomatoes, finely chopped (or 800g tinned)
2 leeks or red onions
4 teaspoons of sugar
oil
passata
salt and pepper
put beans, tomatoes, onion, and olive oil into an ovenproof dish. Add passata to cover, add sugar, salt and pepper. Stir, and bake at 160 deg C, for 20 mins, stir again and bake for 30 mins or until tender. You can freeze or bottle them. |
Ok I took my time to get round trying this bu tthe beans are now in soak ready for making baked beans for breakfast. I must ask what is passata and can I use tomato puree? I had a look on ochef.com and there are two recipes for it one is just sived tomatoes and the other involves pork shoulder and stuff.
|
Lloyd
|
I do jet propelled poo pick every morning!
Funny, I was thinking today about home made baked beans. Wonder if the beans are easy to grow here. I'd be inclined to make the sauce by itself, boil the beans, put them in sauce, seal up in fridge for a month or two to infuse. With a spot of vinegar too probably.
|
nettie
|
It's just sieved tomatoes m'dear, the porky one sounds mighty posh  Puree will be too strong a taste.
The recipe sounds great, i always hated baked beans as a kid, but I'm really tempted to give this one a go. Thanks WW! I wonder what it'd be like with HFW's sieved roasted tomatoes, you know, the garlicky ones 
|
Lloyd
|
Baked beansWW, How did the beans turn out?
|
selfsufficientish
|
I don't think he has tried them. I wil let you know tomorrow what thay are like if you want (as long as I remember  )
|
Lloyd
|
Cheers Andy
|
Gervase
|
If you like 'em sweet, a spoonful of black treacle works a treat. Ideally you should have some pork in there (the very first canned beans did have pork in them) - belly strips work well to give a nice richness, and you can always fish the bits out before serving.
|
selfsufficientish
|
Ok they are baking away and have been in the oven for ages but the beans are not getting soft. Is there something I have done wrong? I have followed the recipes to the letter.
|
Behemoth
|
[quote="Gervase"]If you like 'em sweet, a spoonful of black treacle works a treat. Ideally you should have some pork in there (the very first canned beans did have pork in them) - belly strips work well to give a nice richness, and you can always fish the bits out before serving.[/quote
Baked beans in the USA are not like ours as they don't load them with sugar so the sauce is more runny. Also you can buy "beans with pork" and when you open the can there's a big lump of pork fat on top of the beans. I didn't like them which has put me off doing baked beans but I'm tmpted by the recipe above. Keep us updated.
|
selfsufficientish
|
final result.final result.
Not that nice really. The beans just did not want to soften and stayed pretty hard, whilst all the other ingredients were starting to singe a bit. Will perhaps try and soak them for longer than 12 hours next time or boil them a bit before hand.
|
tahir
|
Did you cook them with salt? They'll never go soft if you cook them with salt, the skins harden, soak and boil first.
|
jema
|
Re: final result. | selfsufficientish wrote: | final result.
Not that nice really. The beans just did not want to soften and stayed pretty hard, whilst all the other ingredients were starting to singe a bit. Will perhaps try and soak them for longer than 12 hours next time or boil them a bit before hand. |
My attempts seem to get the consistancy right, but still totally fail to impress me 
jema
|
selfsufficientish
|
| tahir wrote: | | Did you cook them with salt? They'll never go soft if you cook them with salt, the skins harden, soak and boil first. |
Cheers wil try again boiling them first I think that was the problem. The rest of it tasted fine so I think this is a good recipe. Although nothing like shop bought baked beans is this what you mean by the consistancy Jema?
|
jema
|
| selfsufficientish wrote: | | tahir wrote: | | Did you cook them with salt? They'll never go soft if you cook them with salt, the skins harden, soak and boil first. |
Cheers wil try again boiling them first I think that was the problem. The rest of it tasted fine so I think this is a good recipe. Although nothing like shop bought baked beans is this what you mean by the consistancy Jema? |
Consistancy as in not hard, buyt not totally mushy.
jema
|
Mr BlueSky
|
Well thank you everybody!
I havn't tried the recipe yet but as we are in very rural France and cannot get baked beans here readily I am sure that however they turn out they will be most appreciated. Apart from all that the recipe sounds good indeed and I can't wait to try it.
Thanks again to all in this topic.
SJC
|
Gervase
|
If you want the beans to soften, I find the best way is to soak for eight hours, chuck that water away and then simmer them for a good 40 minutes in fresh water with a bay leaf, a few pepper corns and a lump of onion but no salt. Once drained they'll be al dente, and the final cook with the rest of the ingedients will soften them nicely.
|
Mr BlueSky
|
Soaking me beans now!
Will try the "simmer" method too. Don't like hard baked beans.
I am sure this recipe will turn out splendid and will post the outcome.
Thanks to all concerned
S
|
tahir
|
Better let us know how they turned out, piccies too (if possible)
|
Marigold123
|
Beans sometimes won't soften up if they are too old. You can cook them for hours and they still won't play ball. If you think this is the problem, the only thing to do is throw them out and start a new packet.
Problems with long cooking time and super home methane production can both be solved by sprouting the beans first. Obviously this takes a bit more planning ahead, but it's very simple to do.
You don't need any special equipment, - a large jar (pickled onion, mayonaise, etc), a bit of net curtain to put over the top and a rubber band to fasten it are all you need, as well as somewhere to drain them. You don't need a special stand, the washing up drainer will do, you just prop them up at a 45 degree angle for 5 mins and then turn them back the right way again.
Basically, you soak your seeds/grains/pulses etc for a certain length of time, depending on the size and type being sprouted, give them a thorough rinse to wash out any moulds etc that have washed off the beans during soaking, drain for 5 minutes, then leave the jar to stand for a few days, rinsing 2 or 3 times a day, depending on how warm the weather is.
Pulses, seeds, etc, contain protein, fat and starch, plus some fibre, but in the normal unsprouted state they are actually rather indigestible, even when soaked and boiled for a long time, which is apparently why we produce so much gas when we eat them.
When the seed germinates, enzymes convert the less digestible substances into those which are much more easily assimilated.
There is a nice little book called the Sprouter's Handbook by Edward Cairney, which gives details of the various soaking and sprouting times required by the different pulses, seeds, nuts and grains. I got mine from the Organic Gardening Catalogue for about £4, but if anyone wants me to check specific soaking/sprouting times, feel free to PM me. It also extolls the virtues of wheatgrass juice, which I must say, I am tempted by.
The book is really about the importance of including raw foods in our diet, and particularly sprouted seeds of all kinds. They are delicious raw, but they can also be cooked, and in a fraction of the time with no prior soaking, and though the valuable plant enzymes will have been destroyed, they are still a lot more use nutritionally than the unsprouted kind, and they don't make you toot!
I sprout seeds quite often, usually for salads and snacking, and I find that when we include these in our daily diet the whole family's energy levels are much improved, and I cope with everything (children, housework, stress, etc) much better. Since my eldest has become a veggie, though, I have cooked with them more as well, and produced a wicked sprouted butterbean and chick pea curry the other day. I had never sprouted butterbeans before, and had no idea that they could be so delicious. It was so good that my teenager came down and stole some of the leftovers I was going to have for lunch, and ate it for breakfast! 
|
Marigold123
|
| selfsufficientish wrote: | | tahir wrote: | | Did you cook them with salt? They'll never go soft if you cook them with salt, the skins harden, soak and boil first. |
Cheers wil try again boiling them first I think that was the problem. The rest of it tasted fine so I think this is a good recipe. Although nothing like shop bought baked beans is this what you mean by the consistancy Jema? |
You are supposed to boil all unsprouted beans, (all pulses ?), especially kidney beans, hard for 10 minutes before simmering, to make sure you destroy certain enzymes naturally present in the dried beans. You don't have to pre-soak peas or lentils, but it speeds up the cooking time for the larger kinds if you do.
There was a big thing when I was in my late teens where people were 'poisoned' by improperly cooked kidney beans after cooking their own chilli con carne when it first became popular here. Since then, packet labels always warn about soaking and boiling for 10 mins first. It's less of a problem now that canned beans are available, but when I was little I once ate a dried butterbean that I had stolen from school and had terrible, painful indigestion for hours afterwards, so I know it can happen.
I'd like to try this recipe, probably with haricot beans, as it sounds good. My daughter is a great baked beans fan, so it would be lovely to be able to do a home-made version. It might persuade the six year-old to eat them too. I like also like haricots cooked with sausage and a bit of fatty bacon, like a cassoulet, but I haven't done it for ages.
|
Marigold123
|
| Behemoth wrote: | | Baked beans in the USA are not like ours as they don't load them with sugar so the sauce is more runny. |
When I visited friends in Florida some years ago we had traditional southern food, like cornbread, fried chicken gizzards and beans. The ones I had there weren't at all tomatoey, but in thicker light coloured sauce and flavoured with lemon. I have to say it was all delicious. I now make cornbread from time to time and the family love it.
|
Nanny
|
baked beanswhat you buy here in the can is NOT a baked bean, that is a steamed or boiled one in a runny sauce which i quite like myself
the true baked bean is baked and if done correctly is almost solid and a really dark brown almost black in the pot. not to be hurried this one, it has taken me 2 days sometimes to get them to the right consistency consequently i hardly ever make them
it has brown sugar as well as treacle and is best eaten hot with either strips of bacon baked across it which adds a saltiness to the sweetness or with hot dogs/sausages
p.s.
can be sold on the black market as rocket fuel by unscrupulous arms dealers
|
Mr BlueSky
|
| tahir wrote: | | Better let us know how they turned out, piccies too (if possible) |
Well, here goes!
We had our first baked beans on toast this morning for a long time.
They look better than they taste - sorry no, they tasted beautiful or at least the sauce did - it was just that the beans stayed rather hard as others have mentioned. will have to experiment with the soaking technique. we enjoyed our breakfast none the less. I will try to figure out how to attach photo now.
On a sadder note our youngest cat "Junie" was hit by a car this morning and is convalescing with a broken limb so I will now have to go and sit with him (poor sole). He is in for an operation on Monday and we are all praying for him.
Simon
|
tahir
|
That's a heck of a lot of beans, I notice you've got an open fire, I'd be very careful, best get some windows open...
Good luck with the operation
|
Treacodactyl
|
| tahir wrote: | That's a heck of a lot of beans, I notice you've got an open fire, I'd be very careful, best get some windows open...
Good luck with the operation |
What's wrong with an open fire?
|
tahir
|
| Treacodactyl wrote: | | What's wrong with an open fire? |
It's the byproducts of digesting all those beans mixed with a naked flame that worries me.
|
Treacodactyl
|
 That reminds me of work where we were discussing if a guiness and sprout diet would be good for you.
|
Mr BlueSky
|
| tahir wrote: | That's a heck of a lot of beans, I notice you've got an open fire, I'd be very careful, best get some windows open...
Good luck with the operation |
Yes, I tripled up on the ingredients list - well no point in doing jjust a saucepan full! We now have three large jars in stock down in the cellar
|
tahir
|
Were the beans home grown?
|
Mr BlueSky
|
| tahir wrote: | | Were the beans home grown? |
No. Sadly they were dried ones we bought in. We grew alot of french beans in the summer and have bags full of 'em in the freezer - not quite the same tho'. This summer we will be growing some haricots to bake. Maybe then they will not be so hard when cooked. That is what I am hoping anyhow.
|
Deeno
|
Hi all
Sorry to come in late on this one and it may have bean said already. We make beans often and it's Haricot beans you want if you wish to closely copy the Supermarkup ones.
Deeno
|
Mr BlueSky
|
Hello Deeno
Good work. Any chance of a copy of your recipe for the baked beans? We try out all sorts here and would be very interested in your approach (as I am sure alot of others on here would)
P.s. we did use haricots - but dried ones. Do you grow your own?
Simon
|
