I know that I’ve gone on and on and on about our trip to Nashville over Thanksgiving. You get it, we fell madly in love with southern food. But since our trip, we have found some stiff competition right here in Chicago. No, it doesn’t quuuiiite beat Nashville, but it sure comes close.
A couple months ago we went to Real Urban Barbeque. Oh Em Gee! Phenomenal. The few times we’ve been there I have ordered the Mini BBQ Brisket Sandwich and it is so so delicious. We don’t go there just for the meat though. It’s equally about the sides! We always order the mac & cheese and the baked beans. Those are the staples, in my opinion.
We’ve been talking about making homemade baked beans for months now, but kept putting it off because it takes several hours. Well, the time finally came this weekend! Yes, it took hours. Yes, it was totally worth it. The baked beans tasted fantastic. They even reminded me of my favorites – Hattie B’s and of course Real Urban BBQ.
Here’s what you’ll need
Chop up the salt pork and bacon first
Brown the meat, about 7 minutes. Then add the onion and cook that until softened
In goes the water, molasses, brown sugar, mustard, salt and beans
It cooks for A LONG TIME! But look how yummy it looks.
Who woulda thunk that one day I’d like errr LOVE baked beans! Whoa!
- 4 ounces salt pork, trimmed of rind and cubed
- 2 ounces bacon, cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon molasses, divided
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown mustard (we used yellow because it was all we had)
- ½ pound dried great northern beans, rinsed
- ½ pound dried navy beans, rinsed
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- 9 cups water
- 1¼ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Add salt pork and bacon to a large Dutch oven and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and most fat has rendered, about 7 minutes.
- Add onion and continue to cook until onion has softened, 6-8 minutes.
- Add ½ cup molasses, brown sugar, mustard, beans, salt, and 9 cups water. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to boil.
- Cover and transfer to oven. Bake until beans are tender, about 4 hours, stirring after 2 hours.
- Remove lid and continue to bake until liquid has thickened, 1 to 1½ hours longer. Remove from oven; stir in remaining tablespoon of molasses, vinegar, and additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve.
