The mighty Navy bean

I like beans.  There, I said it.  I particularly like baked beans though it's something I really can't eat.

No, I'm not one of those annoying hipster/fussy eater types (though I do have a fedora and a tiny Breaking Bad chin beard). I just have sodium, blood pressure, heart health issues and it's generally mo bettah if I keep sodium laced crud out of my system.  So no processed, canned or otherwise food crosses these lips.

Which means I have to ban myself from what I used to love so much.  Good old pork and beans, bakes beans, canned chili, etc.... I mean, boy howdy, one can of baked beans gives me double what the doc says I should safely ingest daily.

On the good side, this has been my impetus for becoming a cook.  To be able to prepare super tasty food daily not processed or from a  restaurant without feeling lousy and blowing up my heart has led me to explorations in cooking that have literally changed my life for the better.  And  man, Ive been thinking about doing baked beans for a while now.

Back when I was a schedule B California woodlands firefighter (at 19-21) they used to serve us baked beans out in the fire camps.  I'll tell ya, after swinging a double bit axe for 10 hours on the line I used to eat about 5 lbs of those tasty beans, and I developed a mild addiction to creamy soft Navy beans in a ketchupy/brown sugar/baconesque goop.

The Navy bean, the nobel thing it has always been is perfect for the job. It's packed full of protein and fiber, available year round, cheap and being basically bland, absorbs the spice of anything you add to it.   I found a version of this classic baked beans from scratch recipe and made some tiny modifications to taste.

Today I took the plunge:

Well actually, yesterday.  I started by soaking those bad boys over night in clear water - 2 cups which doesn't look like much but after the overnights swells up to fill the quart pot to the brim.

Pro tip:  if you forget to soak those babies, bring to a rolling boil, then remove from the heat and let them sit in their own juice for about 2 hours.  Semi-close to a long soak and certainly workable, but I still recommend responsible soaking as a practice.  They just taste better overall and the texture is perfect with a long soak.

Then I low simmered them for 2 hours with a couple of bay leaves in the mix (bay trees are all over Canyon and I can't resist walking out onto my front porch to pick  a few leaves).

When tender and tasty, I drain the water and retain it.  Nothing like beige bean water!!

Then it gets super super easy.

Pour half the beans into a 2 quart baking unit and then layer bacon strips over it to cover the beans.

Add finely diced onions and about 4 cloves of single slice/crushed garlic (your milage may vary to 2 cloves. My family are garlic lovers).

Repeat layering with the rest of the beans, bacon, onions and garlic

Then comes the Sauce:

In a medium to small sauce pan place your molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper then bring to a brisk boil.

Immediately pour this fragrant goop over your carefully layered beans and add some of the reserved bean water to just cover the beans.   I told you you'd need that bean water.

Bake covered for 3 hours at 325 degrees, pulling it out at the halfway point to add more water if necessary so your beans don't dry out.

At three hours you're done.  Man oh man, this goes great with any summer BBQ dish.

The ingredients:

2 cups white or Navy beans
1/2 pound of bacon cut in half

8cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onion, finely diced

For the sauce

4 tbsp molasses

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 cup of ketchup

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

•