3 slow simmered beans Recipes

bacon strips, diced, smoked polish sausage or johnsonville polish kielbasa sausage, kidney beans, rinsed and drained, diced tomatoes, drained, sweet red peppers, chopped, onion, chopped, ketchup, brown sugar, honey, molasses, worcestershire sauce, salt, ground mustard, unpeeled red apples, cubed

just about every barbecue joint we have ever been to serves some form of baked beans. each is a little different--according to the pitmaster s whims--though they all share a pretty similar sweet, smoky flavor. we wanted to make our own version of barbecued beans at home in a slow cooker. here s what we discovered, choose small white beans and soak them overnight for the creamiest, most tender texture., add smoky flavor via fine-chopped bacon. there s no need to saute it; it will dissolve into the beans during the long, slow simmer., add lots of onions and garlic and saute them before assembling all the ingredients in the slow cooker. many slow cooker recipes skip this step for convenience s sake, but we think the rich flavor the step generates is well worth the extra effort., blend barbecue sauce and an unexpected ingredient, coffee, for a deep, resonant flavor. reserve the coffee until the beans have cooked; otherwise it will make the beans taste bitter., add a little barbecue sauce and mustard (along with the coffee) to the beans just before serving for an accent.