That's nice, but what's the basic recipe look like?
Basically,
2 lbs dried navy/great northern beans
5-6 cloves garlic
large Spanish onion
half to 2/3 cup brown sugar
6 oz. can tomato paste
half cup molasses
1/4 cup Worchestershire sauce
3/4 to 1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup favorite mustard
Couple of tablespoons white or rice wine vinegar, with maybe a splash of balsamic
1 pound smoked slab bacon
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup oregano
cracked black pepper
salt (after the beans are cooked)
water (to cover beans after everything is in the pot)
Then there are the optional ingredients:
1 large sweet red pepper
Favorite hot peppers (I use Jalapenos and/or serranos)
a few whole dried chilis (removed after cooking, if you can find them; I use Mexican AND Thai)
cayenne pepper
2 lbs kosher beef franks
2 tablespoons mole sauce
1-2 tespoons Tabasco/Sriracha sauce
1-2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried mustard
2 tablespoons maple syrup (not the fake stuff)
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
The basic is on the sweet side, but I like mine with a little more kick.
I cut the franks on a slight bias and render the fat off in a skillet, then drain. Wiping out the skillet, I then cut the bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and lightly brown, draining and reserving. I save the bacon fat and use that to start the garlic/onions/peppers/ginger. Once a little soft, I add my dried spices/herbs. Once I smell the spices, I throw in the tomato paste and cook a little while stirring often. Then I add the liquids (holding back on the water). Then the dried beans, the franks, and the bacon. I stir to mix, then add water to just cover the beans. Give it another stir, bring to a boil, cover, and throw into a preheated oven. I add water as necessary. Once cooked, I adjust for salt.
I've never written my recipe down for this yet, as with dishes like this, it's always a little of this, a lot of that, and some of this other stuff. Once going, I taste, allowing for the heat to grow (if it seems too hot, take out the dried chilis), but checking for a sweet tomato/vinegar bite. I cook it on low on the stove top, but you can bake it in a large Dutch oven in the oven at around 300
o overnight, maybe stirring once or twice in the night to make sure it's not sticking (that molasses and brown sugar will stick every time if you're not careful). The one time I made it with 'the works', I counted over 30 ingredients. Like I say, a little of this and some of that looks good. I overstuffed my pasta pot with 3 pounds of dried beans one time; after everything was in, the batch came literally to the top of the pot, with maybe a half an inch to spare. It took me 36 hours to cook on the stove top because there wasn't much 'circulation' room in the pot, and I cooked on low as I didn't want to burn the beans, and it was the beans that took so long -- even after soaking overnight. Now I go with 2 pounds of beans, which allows for some room in my pasta pot and cuts my cooking time drastically, but it still takes hours with constant monitoring. But two pounds of dried beans is still a sh*tload of baked beans. They freeze well, though.