Baked Beans with Ground Beef

Memorial Day weekend at Aunt Linda’s. The whole family at the cookout Monday afternoon. Brayden is eighty-six weeks old. The Travis-message is still sitting un-responded-to in my Facebook inbox. The two weeks of sitting with it have done their slow work.

The baked beans with ground beef is Mama’s recipe — canned baked beans (we use the Bush’s Original) reinforced with browned-and-drained ground beef, chopped onion, a small amount of brown sugar, a tablespoon of yellow mustard, a quarter-cup of barbecue sauce, baked in a casserole dish at three-fifty for an hour until the top is bubbling and slightly browned. The dish is the Memorial-Day-cookout-side that has been in our family since I was small.

The technique question on baked beans is the long-bake versus the short-bake. The long-bake (an hour at three-fifty) develops the flavor through the slow caramelization of the sugar and the integration of the meat-and-sauce into the bean-mass. The short-bake produces a result that is essentially canned beans with meat in them. The long-bake is the difference.

Monday I made a double-batch for the cookout. Aunt Linda’s Memorial Day cookout had twelve people. The dish was the side that disappeared first. Dustin had three helpings standing at the deck table.

The blog’s small Sunday-publish rhythm continues. The catering business has been the small foreground of the small year’s work. The cookbook in its small online-store. The small recurring-clients (Singh family, Yates family, the corporate-luncheon brokerage) anchor the small reliable-revenue stream. The small one-off-jobs round out the small income.

Carol Bryant has been on the small Friday-call rhythm. Carol calls at five PM Tulsa time (six PM Memphis time). The call lasts twenty minutes. The conversation moves through Brayden, the small Bryant-cookbook collaboration, the small Memphis-news. The small grandmother-relationship continues to deepen.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 10

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cans (15 oz each) pork and beans
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or a large oven-safe Dutch oven and set aside.
Brown the beef. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion together, breaking the meat apart as it cooks, until the beef is no longer pink and the onion is softened, about 8–10 minutes. Drain excess fat.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring to combine everything into a cohesive base.
Add the beans. Pour all three cans of pork and beans directly into the skillet (do not drain). Stir well to combine with the beef mixture. Taste and season with salt and black pepper as needed.
Add bacon and transfer. Fold in most of the crumbled bacon, reserving a small handful for topping. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Scatter the reserved bacon over the top.
Bake. Bake uncovered at 350°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges are bubbling and the top has developed a slightly caramelized crust. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Baked Beans with Ground Beef