O Baby! O! Beans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large dutch oven, brown the sausage and bacon together, then add the onions and green peppers. Stir and cook until lovely. Inhale aroma as necessary. Skim the fat, if you need to. Take the dutch oven off the heat.

Now for the hard part…open canned beans. Lots of variety is important here! I use black beans, kidney beans–dark AND light, pinto beans, small white beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, cannelinis, limas (basically I go to the store and buy one of every kind of canned bean they have). I usually end up with about 9-10 cans.

Drain and rinse these. Pour into the dutch oven with the lovely sausage/bacon/onion/green pepper mixture. Add a large can of pork and beans–do NOT drain or rinse these.

Mix together BBQ sauce, ketchup, sugars, mustard, molasses, salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and red chili flakes and pour into your dutch oven with all the other stuff. Stir. Taste. Add more cayenne and red pepper flakes if needed…and I cannot and will not make that decision for you.

Now cover and put into the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Take off the lid. Stir. Leave off the lid and put the pot back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes–however long it takes to get all bubbly.

Serve, then stand back and wait for the applause. This is a good time to note that these beans are good hot, at room temperature, or cold out of the fridge the next day. If they make it that long.