Smoky Spicy and Rememberable 

I was asked to help design a upscale cookout bbq and my task was to make some killer pork & beans. My response was “your kidding, beans?” Yes beans, my buddy had already been following several of our recipes which they all use but we have never done anything with beans, just make some beans will you, "fine...."

One of my personal challenges is to make beans from scratch, which means from dry northern white beans, soak the night before, reserve liquid, simmer for three hours and have started to get very close to a recipe I like but this is not a fast or easy task. Fortunately not everybody is glutton for punishment that I am, to each his own I guess. For his recipe I was bypassing the actual from scratch process and starting from pre-made beans. You can go either way, all I’m saying is you need a big pot of beans to start. If you have to get canned beans, it’s Bush’s Baked Beans, its worth a trip to the US for them, and I hear they are on the way to Canada.These are awesome beans tha Susie turned me on to, fracken really worth it.

First I want to talk about the “Pork” part of the equation, who says that it has to be a slimly piece a half cooked bacon, why even bacon, while I produce some of the best bacon available, lets open up some options. This was going to be Willowgrove Hill pork tenderloins, there is nothing better in the pork world.

To be honest I having a little trouble putting them in a pot of beans, they are not the cheapest cut around, but it is worth it after all we are making gourmet beans.

Assemble your ingredients as follows;

Black Pig Gourmet Pork & Beans

117 oz can of Bush’s Original Baked Beans

2 medium size onions (diced)

2 green peppers (diced)

1 red pepper (diced)

1 lb of Mushrooms (sliced)

2 pork tenderloins (medallions)

½ cup good smoky BBQ sauce

½ cup maple syrup

¼ cup of Pork BBQ Rub

Use ½ of the rub on the pork medallions and allow to come to room temperature; put on the grill and add some Smokinlicious maple sugar woodchips in a pouch for smoke cook indirect for ½ hour at 250 or med low heat.

Sauté the onions in some butter as well as mushrooms and peppers. In a very large pot add beans and vegetables sauce, syrup and ½ of the rub bring to heat. Cut pork tenderloins into ¼ inch cubes and add to beans, allow slow simmer for about a hour. If you really want to go for broke and infuse some additional flavour put the beans in a disposable tinfoil pan and place uncovered back into the grill (for the hour) to get some smoke; cook indirect at 220 (f)

This is a full meal in itself and serves a small army of teenage boys. My original plan was to bring them to work for lunch but after thinking that through (a week of beans) self preservation kicked in again, I fed the boys.

These are going to be some of the best beans you have ever tried, however, I'm not responsible for your smell the next day.

Cheers from the Big Dog