Twisted Tuesday 7 20 2010

This week in our kitchen we have Made a wonderful ham! I got an old fashioned smoked ham from the gal at the market and we cooked it in the crock pot.

Method:

Put ham in crock pot before bed fill half up the side of the ham with water. Flip ham over in the morning enjoy anytime after 11pm Yumm!

NOTE obviously it was already cured and required no cooking or simple reheat but this was so delicious I had to share!

My first baked beans were the worlds best ever! That is really and truly saying something because I can't stand baked beans lol

Method:

Rinse and clean 1 cup beans. OR you can measure the broth described below and decide how much beans you can cook. Soak beans, I used Pinto, overnight (min 7 hours preferably at least 12 hours) In appropriate amount of water adding an acid (kombucha, why, buttermilk , vinegar) 1 T to each cup water.

If soaking on the stove bring to a good low simmer cover and turn off. If soaking in the crock pot turn on high for 1 hour then turn off. Skim of any scum, quickly so as not to lose heat though.

Next I took the rest of the big pieces of meat and the chucks of fatty material out of the juice in the crock pot. This left a lot of meat and some nice oils in the broth so I did not add anything to this but the ready to cook beans and I chopped up large onion. Add about 2 cups of brown sugar or drizzle in some grade B maple syrup or some molasses. Cook beans for a minimum of 12 hours.

We took this to the pot luck and we all enjoyed it so much and got so many compliments we decided to use the remaining juice to cook some more :) This time I added only the soaked beans and also some soaked rice. In fact I soaked the beans and rice together.

NOTE if your beans are more than a year old, for example you may have food storage built up. Beans can last for a long time but sometimes they get difficult to cook after a time and remain overly firm. Simply add a teaspoon or so of baking soda while they cook.

ALSO my mother always keeps hot water in a kettle or pot handy when cooking beans in case they need more water. I had plenty in mine but make sure you always add hot water or you cool the whole thing and it takes about an hour and a half to heat back up to cooking temperature. 1 ½ hours longer cooking = :(

ONE more thing :) There was a lot of juices left so we used a slotted spoon the first time but it was amazing anyway! I had never cooked it before and none of my friends are scratch cooks. Not like this anyway or not with the baked beans so I was up to my own devices. I could have used 3 cups or so had I n=known. The leftover juice was still awesome and the beans add rice were great in it. It was thick and sweet and oh so yummy! I added about 1 ½ cups beans and about ¾ or so cup of rice to the second batch.

I wish I had a picture! Maybe I can find one similar online :) This is NOT a can of baked beans! Not even a Dr. up can of baked beans lol the recipes got were something like: can pork and beans brown sugar and catchup. Tops with cheese. Eww!

This post is also part of Fight Back Friday's Blog Hop!
Pennywise Platter Thursday @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Twisted Tuesday Blog Hop @ GNOWFGLINS

At times I find that post can be shared long after it has been written as was this one. Sometimes it fits well in more than one link up or blog hop! I try to acknowledge all of them :) There really are some great blogs our there! Check them out for yourself! We are going to be adding some of our own Linky Love here @ Sustainability as well! Don't have a blog? Thats OK share with us in the comment section! Have fun with it!