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This recipe for Benny's Beans was given to me by Leola "Benny" Johnson, a co-worker, good cook, friend, and a nice person.  We had a potluck at work and Benny brought a pot of her beans as a side dish, and everybody, including myself, raved about her beans.  After bugging her for several days, she finally revealed her recipe to me.


Special tools:  Large cast iron pot with cover; my pot is 8-quarts, potato masher
Preparation time:  About 15 minutes
Cooking time:  About 40 minutes
Yield:  8 generous servings if used as a side dish


2 - 30 oz cans of pinto beans, pork 'n beans, or baked beans
1 lb lean ground beef
4 cloves garlic, minced
t teaspoon oregano
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon mesquite liquid smoke
1 cup barbecue sauce, any brand or flavor
Optional:  1 tablespoon brown sugar
Salt to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon


Heat olive oil in pot over medium heat until hot.  Add ground beef, crumble and slightly brown.  Add onions, garlic, cilantro and optional salt.  Stir until ground beef is browned.  Drain excess grease, but leave a little in the pot.  Add beans, with liquid smoke, barbeque sauce and optional brown sugar.

Mash about 1/3 of the mixture with a potato masher until creamy.  Cover and cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes.  Stir every 2 minutes.  Mixture should have quite a bit of liquid, but should not be like a soup.


Benny tells me that her grandmother taught her this recipe, as Benny used to help her grandmother in the kitchen.  I've made these beans at home and on camping trips many times, and everybody always seems to want seconds or thirds.  These beans are a real crowd-pleaser, and will put a smile on many hungry faces, as they did at the pot luck at work.  In fact, this recipe is so robust that it can be used as a main course.

You can substitute ground turkey or pork for the ground beef, but if you do, I'd recommend using hickory-flavored liquid smoke rather than the mesquite-flavored.  Instead of ground beef, you can use linguica, polish sausage, chorizo or just about anything.

Almost any kind of canned beans can be used; pork 'n beans, baked beans, pinto beans, etc.  Dried beans, such as pinto, navy or great northern beans can be used, as long as they are prepared properly. See my recipe for Frijoles de Olla, a.k.a. "pot beans," for ideas on how to prepare dried beans.
 


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