Recipe Day

Leah over at The Goat's Lunch Pail did a post the other day about dry goods that food bank recipients refuse because they don’t know what to do with them. The Bag Lady then bragged about her easy and delicious recipe for Beans and Pork, and promised to post it. She didn’t get around to posting it yesterday, as Bunnygirl so delicately reminded her, so here it is!

Beans and Pork

2 Cups white beans
1 lb bacon*, chopped
2 chopped green onions
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt**
1 tsp dry mustard
1 Cup catsup
*the Bag Lady uses bacon ends
**the Bag Lady reduces the salt to 1 tsp

1 pm*** – rinse beans in cold water, discard shriveled beans. In 8-quart Dutch oven, over high heat, bring beans and 8 cups of water to boiling. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans.
In same Dutch oven, fry bacon and onions ‘til bacon browns. Drain most of the fat. Add beans, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and 4 cups of water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Add catsup, heat to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer half an hour. (These are even better the next day, and you can freeze the left-overs.)

***If you start around 1 pm, they will be ready for supper. The Bag Lady serves these with a salad and fresh home made bread (or biscuits). Or Indian Frybread, if you aren’t at all concerned about calories, or your cholesterol levels or any of that other health-related stuff…

Indian Frybread

2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp shortening
1 1/2 Cups milk
1 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients – add shortening and work with hands ‘til crumbly. Add milk and mix. Turn out onto floured board. Knead. Avoid using too much flour. Pat out round and flat (1/4 inch thick). Poke hole in middle of round*. Fry in hot oil, turning once, approximately 1 ½ minutes per side. Drain on paper towel. The Bag Lady uses a heavy cast-iron skillet for these, and makes her rounds slightly smaller than the skillet. The Frybread should be a nice, golden brown colour. Watch it closely as it will burn quickly. (*The hole in the middle is very important as an escape for the oil.)

Both of these are terrific for camping – we cook our Frybread over an open campfire. Damn, now the Bag Lady wishes it was July instead of November!!

Have you ever had biscuits cooked in a real Dutch oven in a campfire? Absolutely delicious. If anyone is interested in learning how to cook in a Dutch oven over a campfire, I can post about that another day.