Pork & Beans

When I think of pork and beans, I think about cans of small beans with a weird half gelatinous-half liquid sauce and what looks like small pieces of pork belly. Not the most enticing meal for sure! This recipe takes pork and beans back to its roots, with season chunks of pork, large tender beans, and a slightly spicy broth. Served with some homemade buttermilk corn muffins, it will change the way you think of pork and beans.

I started recreating this dish by enhancing some of the common elements. The pork, for instance, is usually a salted pork product, pork belly, or backfat. I wanted something more substantial and meaty, so I chose to use seasoned pork shoulder.

The beans are usually small white beans, like navy beans. Again, I wanted something substantial. Butter beans cook up tender and are large enough to stand up to the hunks of pork.

The sauce for this dish, as well as the original, is tomato-based. However, this sauce is enhanced with seasonings from the pork, onions, garlic, peppers, and bourbon. It is full of flavor with a little burst of spice at the end.

To finish this dish off, I made buttermilk corn muffins. The muffins are perfect for sopping up sauce and make this a truly southern-style pork and beans.

As you can see in the pictures, I made my muffins in a cast-iron muffin pan. Regular muffin pans will work just as well. If you are lucky enough to have a cast-iron pan, put the pan in the oven while it’s preheating. When the oven comes to temperature, remove the pan and pour 1/8 teaspoon of oil in each cup before filling with the cornmeal batter. The hot oil immediately starts cooking the crust, giving it a crisp exterior that is easy to remove after baking.