Cast Iron Smoked Beans with Rib Pieces, Recipe + QView

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ravanelli

Fire Starter
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
70
16
Portland, Or
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I've seen some really interesting baked beans posted lately, and I thought I'd try something myself.  I was doing some ribs in my horizontal offset, which has a nice warming pad right on top of the firebox.  You could do this in the oven/stove, but it's kind of fun to do it outside and save some electricity, and get some smoke on the beans!

First, rubbed a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil and season it in the smoking chamber for about 30 minutes.  

Then, I took it out and softened up some onions on top of the firebox for about 5 minutes:

173c4764_Onions.jpg


 Then, I proceed to dump in the following to the above mentioned skillet:
  • 24 oz. can of baked beans (the most plain, un-baconized or sugarized you can find, since we're adding the flavor).  
  • Some (meaning probably 1/4 or 1/3 cup) of yellow mustard, maple syrup.  Just rough estimates.
  • About a cup of Jeff's BBQ sauce, probably a little more.
  • A shot or two of Makers Mark (optional)
  • About a cup of chopped up rib bits.  I got mine from the section I trimmed on the spare ribs.  They had been in the smoker about 2 hours, so they were cooked through when I chopped 'em up.  I'm sure just about any bits of smoked meat would work.  Wish I had more but this is what I used:
73cd89ef_RibBits.jpg


Now, warm it up on the firebox for about 30 minutes, stirring nicely to get everything blended.  I did this so I could keep stirring without opening the smoker too much.  Here it is all stirred up.  Look closely and you'll see the rib pieces mixed in with the beans and onion:

ea8430fd_IMG_0332.jpg


Then, move the whole works into the smoking chamber for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Might need to add some water to keep it from drying up.

66decf65_IMG_0334.jpg


You'll notice in the photo the ribs are uncovered, since it's the last hour of the 3-2-1 on the spares.

Here's everything put together ready to eat.  Clockwise from the top, you've got the wife's coleslaw, pork spareribs, baked beans, and Jeff's sauce.

775ccebf_IMG_0335.jpg


It was all delicious.  Obviously baked beans can be done a ton of different ways, and there's a lot of room for improvisation.  The rib bits were nice and tender but added just a little texture of their own.  There wasn't a strong smokey flavor to the beans, jsut a nice smooth bbq aroma.  Using real, non-canned beans would probably be a winning ticket if you have the time.  

Thanks for stopping by! 
 
Delicious!!!

Nice pictures..thanks!

    Craig
 
Greetings, That all looks awesome...I got the amount of Maker's Mark in the Beans but how much in the Maker?...JJ
 
Kind of like slicing brisket for your guests..."one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me..."
 
That looks like a mighty tasty meal for sure. Those beans look great
 
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