Have you had your legumes today? Chances are you have, although you may not know it. Legumes are edible seeds from the Leguminosae family, which are seeds that split in two, as opposed to grains that are seeds from grasses, which have a “one-piece” seed. Examples of grains are wheat, rice, and corn. Examples of legumes are green, navy, pinto, soy, kidney, and black beans; chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans); green, snow, and snap peas; lentils; and peanuts. Legumes are good sources of protein, fiber, and minerals, and they are also relatively inexpensive, which makes them fairly popular — especially these days.
The particular legume that we’re going to focus on here is the navy bean. This bean is native to the New World, was cultivated and used by the indigenous peoples, and was introduced to the Europeans who came over, whom we refer to as “Pilgrims.” These culinary artists were responsible for the time-honored Boston baked beans, a combination of navy beans, salt pork, diced onions, spices such as salt, pepper, and dry mustard, and molasses or maple syrup.
The traditional method of preparation is to cook them in a “bean hole,” which is a hole in the ground in which stones are laid and a hardwood fire is stoked until it is a pile of embers, after which a Dutch oven or similar vessel is placed on the coals and covered, then left alone for 12-24 hours. The beans come out creamy and smooth. I had some genuine “bean hole beans” when a good friend and I worked in Maine one summer. I must admit that I thought it was much ado about nothing, but I guess it doesn’t take much to impress a bunch of lumberjacks!
Where is this going, you may ask? Well, it’s July, it’s BBQ time, and there will be a lot of hoopla around the 250 years of U.S. independence, so I wanted to share our recipe for Hoss’s Market Baked Beans. These aren’t your basic Bush’s Baked Beans — these are smoky, rich, and spicy. And they are also safe to take to an outdoor event without the worry of being associated with some blah, plebeian offering. The only caveat is that you must plan ahead to have some smoked meat for the recipe, and for best results, you’ll need to cook them on a smoker.
Ingredients 
- 3 16-oz. cans of plain pork and beans
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- ⅓ cup diced green pepper
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. Hoss’s steak seasoning
- 1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
- ⅔ cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1 cup chopped smoked meat
Directions
- Mix all ingredients
- Smoke at 250-300 degrees for 2-3 hours.
- Enjoy!
