Tag Archives: Pork

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Our Favorite Baked Beans (McCall’s)

Charlie had been craving baked beans for quite some time, and we’d not managed to find anything in a can that tasted right to both of us.  Finally decided to try making them myself.  These were really tasty, if a bit sweet for my tastes.  Next time will likely try canned tomats as well as ketchup.  Then again, I’ve been thinking about making my own ketchup for ages, too, so…  we’ll see what happens.  I was a bit more..  generous with most of the spices compared to the recipe, which turned out to be a good thing.

1 lb small white navy beans

2 onions, sliced

2 bay leaves

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Ham bone and leftover baked ham

2 c catsup

2 c light brown sugar

1/3 c vinegar

2-3 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T dry mustard

Soak beans in cold water as per instructions.  (Usually 6-12 hours in cold water.)  Drain beans, rinse under cold water.  Put in a 6 qt kettle, and cover with 5 c water.  Add onions, bay leaves, salt, pepper, ham bone, and leftover ham.  Bring to boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until beans are tender, adding more water if needed.  Remove ham bone (and bay leaves).  Preheat oven to 350.  Drain beans mixture, reserving liquid.  Put beans into a 4 qt baking dish.  Combine catsup, brown sugar, vinegar, W-sauce, and mustard.  Mix well.  Add to beans.  Add enough of the reserved liquid to cover.  Bake 3 hours.

I didn’t actually drain the beans, just added the rest to what was there, as it had cooked down sufficiently.  Recipe states 8-10 servings…  made quite a bit more than that for us.

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Spaghetti Sauce (Betsy Codier)

Originally my grandmother’s, it has seen a few tweaks since then.  Not the least of which is the semi-math equasion nature of the recipe now.

Start with deciding how many pounds of meat you want to use.  Typically, I use half some form of beef, half some form of italian sausage. A “normal” batch starts with about 1 1/2 lbs of meat, a fridge-filling-stick-some-in-the-freezer batch is double that or more.

So, take your amount of meat, and double it.  This becomes your “X” number.

X Carrots, chopped

1/2X to X stalks of celery, chopped

X Peppers (colour dictated by flavour preference), chopped

X Onions (small to medium), chopped

Canned Tomatoes – this one depends entirely on how thick you want your sauce.  Generally works out to 1 large can per pound of meat, without worrying about saving half cans.  I use whole tomatoes, and squish them over the sauce before putting them in.  Helps to break them up, and messy fun, too.

Tomato Paste – For colour, and entirely optional.

Meat – as above

Olives – By feel/to taste/until it looks right

Mushrooms – 1/4 to 1/2 X lbs, halved and sliced

Saute/Add in the following order, in enough oil to keep from sticking:  onions, celery, garlic, meat, spices part one, carrots, peppers, canned tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, tomato paste, spices part two.

Spice Suggestions (not necessarily all at once):  Salt, Sugar, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Parsley, Marjoram, Anise, Black Pepper, Cayenne, Paprika

Simmer for at least two hours on low heat.  6 or more is preferable.  Best next day.

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Baked Apples with Sausage (Betsy Codier)

12-14 small tart apples (this, of course, can be entirely varied based on how many you need.  The full recipe feeds a TON of people.  Granny Smith are excellent with this.)
1 lb mild sausage (I found about a half pound to work with 5 normal sized apples)
salt
brown sugar or maple syrup
apple cider or juice (cider is better)

Cut a slice off the top of each apple.  Wash and core.  Scoop out enough pulp to leave 1/4-1/2 inch in apple.  Pour 1 T maple syrup or plop 1 T brown sugar into each apple (or eyeball it, making sure to leave space for sausage).  Fill heaping with sausage.  Bake in pan with 1/4 in juice or cider in bottom for 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees.  Time for cooking will vary.

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Crunchy Parmesan Mustard Pork Chops (Lifescript)

1 c plain breadcrumbs
1 T melted buter
2 T mustard
2 T grated Parmesan
1 T chopped Parsley
6 pork chops
salt, pepper
Mix bread crumbs, butter, some mustard, parmesan, and parsley.  Season chops with salt and pepper, spread with mustard.  Place the chops, mustard side up, on baking surface.  Divide breadcrumb mixture and pat into mustard.  Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes or until chops are done – chops cooked through, and breadcrumbs browned.

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Norwegian Meatballs (Betsy Codier)

1 ln ground beef
1/4 lb ground pork
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/4 c milk
1 egg
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
6 T ch onion, saute lightly

Mix, make 1″ balls.  brown in 2 T oil.  remove from skillet, add 3 T floiur.  Brown well.  Add salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, dash nutmeg.  Make gravy w/ milk.  Add meatballs.  Cook slowly over low heat.  Serve over noodles or rice.

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Barbecued Pork Ribs (Betsy Codier)

Saute 1 small chopped onion in 1-2 T oil, add some garlic if desired.

Add:
1/2 c water
2 T vinegar
1 T worcestershire sauce
1/4 c lemon juice
2 T brown sugar
1 c. chili sauce
Simmer 20 minutes.

Place ribs in greased pan lined with foil.  Cover with above.  Cover pan.  Bake 20-30 minutes at 450.  Uncover, lower heat to 350, bake an hour, turning and basting every 15 minutes or so.