It was time for me to make a big batch of baked beans again, so I thought I would document it and share the recipe. The recipe can be found on page 497 of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I always double the recipe and freeze the extra beans in smaller containers. We usually only eat them on Sunday mornings with our English breakfast. The best Sunday mornings are when the beans have been baking all Saturday night and are perfect and lovely Sunday morning. :)

I start with 6 cups of small organic white beans. Wash them very thoroughly, then place them in a large bowl with plenty of water to cover them. Add about 2 tbsp of lemon juice, cover them with a towel, and leave them off on the corner of your countertop for at least 12 hours.

Twelve hours later they have greatly expanded. Put them in a colander and rinse them well with fresh water.

When the beans are ready, melt down 4 tbsp of butter or grass-fed beef tallow and 4 tbsp of olive oil in a large dutch oven on medium heat. Remember: this recipe is doubled, so you can easily make the original recipe and not have such large quantities. I just prefer to make as much as I can at once since they freeze so well.

While that is heating, gather the remaining ingredients:

2 small cans of organic tomato paste
1/2 a cup of organic maple syrup
1/2 a cup of unsulfured molasses
6 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
6 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
4 diced organic onions
6 cloves of crushed organic garlic
2 tsp sea salt
2 large pinches of organic chili flakes
1/2 a cup of organic brown sugar

The original recipe does not call for brown sugar. I just like the flavor the brown sugar imparts. It makes the beans taste more like I think they should.

When the oil is hot, fry the onions until they begin to become translucent.

Once they are cooked, add the drained beans.

Now pour in enough water to cover the beans. Just make sure you leave enough room in the pot for the other ingredients.

Bring the water, onion, and beans to a boil. Soon you will see a scum on the surface of the water. Use a spoon to remove and discard this scum.

Now, for my secret ingredient. :) I like to add a handful of cracklings to the beans. They give the beans a lot more flavor than a bit of bacon would. This time I used duck cracklings from the last time I had a duck. Cracklings keep well in the freezer, so when you render some fat, be sure to keep the cracklings for when you make baked beans! The cracklings will basically dissolve into the beans with the long slow baking. So don't worry about biting into a crackling chunk.

Now add in all the other ingredients. You'll see more scum rise after the addition of the remaining ingredients. Use a large spoon and skim off as much as you can. Lastly, place the lid on the pot and put it into a 200 F oven. A very low heat is necessary if you're going to bake the beans all night long. A warning, though. You may wake up in the middle of the night with the delectable smell of baked beans in your nostrils!

The next morning they look like this. You can see on the side of the pot how much they've cooked down in the night.

After you stir them, you can see the gorgeous baked beans hiding beneath the caramelized top. YUM!

Now all that's left to do is spoon them up and eat them! A lovely English breakfast complete with homemade baked beans. Could Sunday get any better?

The soaking of the beans in an acidic medium (with the addition of lemon juice) for many hours is necessary to properly prepare the beans for digestion. You'll be surprised at how highly digestible these beans are when made with care. Enjoy!