Sunday Baked Beans

One of the dishes in the list of "things to make" on our kitchen board is baked beans. Sunday night I removed that entry from the list. :-)

We couldn't find navy beans (or any small white bean) at the Coop on Saturday, so I used a mixture of pinto and kidney beans (250g each). I soaked these overnight, then put them in the Römertopf with a can of stout, two chopped onions, two bay leaves, about 250g of smoked pork shoulder (diced), about 150g of smoked bacon (diced), and a sauce made from chicken boullion, tomato paste, melasse (actually molasses-flavored sugar syrup since I didn't pay close enough attention when I bought it), and some cheap balsamico. After mixing everything, the pot went in a cold oven. I set the oven to 160c and let the beans cook for about four hours; stirring and checking the liquid level every so often.

In the end the beans were beautifully dark and soft:
We ate the resulting deliciousness topped with some fresh parsley and had a big green salad on the side.

There's just not enough time -- I could eat these more than once a year, but there are so many other things to make that they end up being an annual event.