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Cut up one slice of bacon (streaky bacon for Brits) into small pieces. Fry in your favorite deep skillet till nearly crisp. Add 1/2 cup chopped brown onion and fry until onion is beginning to brown. Add two cans (three or four cups) of beans, pinto, black, kidney or white. Add two tablespoons molasses, brown sugar or honey. Stir. Turn heat down to medium low and cook uncovered until well-thickened. Cover and turn heat to low and keep cooking until beans are quite tender.
Other items can be added, like sauces or spices. My favorite thing extra to add is a splash of the juice left in a jar of dill pickles.
Serve over rice or cornbread or as a side dish.
Enjoy
Comments
by the way....
Brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses mixed in.
Adding some vinegar reduces 'vapours' or gas. USDA has a recommendation about changing the soak water for this too.
Enjoy!
Sugars
Turbinado is a less-refined alternative. And molasses can be added to it to darken it. Blend to your taste; I actually prefer the stronger flavor of molasses.
Oh, and I buy bacon "ends and pieces"; much cheaper per pound and the pieces tend to be much thicker than regular bacon or even the "thick sliced" variety, so the pieces cook down less, and to me seem to hold their flavor better.
In the beans
In the pot of beans I made today, I used sorghum syrup which is sort of molasses made from sorghum cane instead of sugar cane. Different flavor, a little milder and less acid. This was Kentucky Sorghum tho, not Arkansas or Missouri. East of the Mississippi they tend to prefer it darker and more molassesy.
The real thing used to be made on each little farm for home use. The canes were crushed, generally by a mill run off of a Model T sitting up on blocks, and the liquid collected in wide shallow pans. From that point, the process was much like making maple syrup with boiling and stirring and the sometime addition of whole cream to prevent boil overs. Real artisan-made sorghum syrups run $30 a pint or more, these days.
But there's nothing much better with fresh scratch biscuits and home-churned butter on a cold January morning in the Delta.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Brown sugar
is not always white sugar with molasses.
You can get unrefined Brown Sugar
https://www.bakingmad.com/ingredients/category/unrefined-bro...
I can testify that this is a far superior product than the thing you describe.
Perhaps in the average US Supermarket this is all you can get. I don't know.
I can get unrefined brown sugar (https://www.billingtons.co.uk/sugars/light-brown-soft/) in my local Waitrose (UK).
refined sugar...
Once refined, it's refined. Since, brown sugar is a smaller part of the market, it's typically made by the tank full of molasses. There's also different grades of the stuff as well.
Back to Erin's wonderful easy recipe. I meant to help keep it simple by not worrying about brown sugar. All one needs to do is add a bit more molasses.
sorry to disagree
From the billingtons FAQ's
What is the difference between refined and unrefined sugar?
Unrefined sugars lock in rather than refine out the natural molasses of the sugar cane. It is this difference which gives Billington’s sugar it’s unique richness, depth of flavour and natural colour that refined sugars, which are simply coated in molasses, do not possess. Our unrefined sugar goes through the minimal amount of processing, within its country of origin, in order to maintain its superior quality.
To me that is different to why you describe.
I've made beans with a recepie similar to Erin's and did not need to add molasses. Actually, I can't think of the last time I actually bought any molasses.
Unrefined brown sugar
I also have a bag of unrefined sugar. It's sort of beige in color, like turbinado. I use it for baking. The market for this sort of thing has grown enough that just making brown sugar by adding back molasses is not the only way even big companies do it now.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
bean recipe, keeping it simple.
I had no intention of getting into a discussion on the finer points of various brands of sugar.
Just remember you can often make ingredient substitutions in cooking. Experiment and have fun doing so.