Barbie's Down South Smoked BBQ Beans


 
I have found the perfect pan to get the maximum use out of the lower WSM grate! It's the perfect size for the BBQ bean recipe above as Chris A. posted it at the beginning of this thread (it will hold a little more too):

Sur la Table carries a round 14" by 3" Magic Line cake pan ($ 16.95) that is perfect for the WSM’s bottom rack. A 2-inch deep pan would be full to the brim, but the 3-inch depth gives enough room for stirring:

http://tinyurl.com/53fvl5

Rita
 
Thanks Rita! I love this recipe and have been using a heavy calphalon pan. It seems to take a long time to heat the beans and get them cooking. I ordered the cake pan and will try the beans under a couple of racks of spare ribs this coming weekend!
 
Doing these yet again for a cook for my family tomorrow. I just love this bean recipe, it's the only one I make anymore.
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I'm real excited to try this. I tried to order 2 of those pans, but they are backordered now so I ended up cancelling it.

I did find round 14" by 3" deep pans at http://www.cakesnthings.com, but I just went to find the direct page to them and they are out of stock now too :-(

Todd
 
Originally posted by Todd Randall:
I'm real excited to try this. I tried to order 2 of those pans, but they are backordered now so I ended up cancelling it.

I did find round 14" by 3" deep pans at http://www.cakesnthings.com, but I just went to find the direct page to them and they are out of stock now too :-(

Todd
Todd, I use the throw away 1/2 foil pans from BJ's and the beans just fit in there. Scoop em out and serve em up, then just toss the pan, no muss no fuss. This is a really great BBQ bean recipe. My family went bonkers over them the other day, just like the Guys at work do, Enjoy!
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I'm really looking forward to trying them. I've never made my own beans before, especially nothing close to a doctored up BBQ recipe like this one.

I just got my chimayo chili powder and texas pete sauce yesterday. For this first time around I wanted to stick to the recipe exactly as printed, so I had to order those. The pans should arrive in a day or two, I did end up getting the last 2 in stock at cakesnthings.

Next weekend looks like the time to do it. I'll be kicking off a 2 butts over a brisky cook on friday night and then do the beans Sunday morning for a feast with family on Sunday afternoon.

Todd
 
Rita,

I got my cake pans over the weekend and I'm planning on putting them to good use this weekend with my first cook of Barbie's beans.

Quick question, when using the shallower / lots of surface area cake pans, should I still figure on a 4-6 hour cook? Or will it go faster because of the larger surface area of the pans?

Thanks,
Todd
 
I'm smoking 2 butts for fathers day, and would like to do these also. Would one of those large disposable tin turkey pans work for this?
Or do I need to find something else? Thanks,

Brandon
 
Originally posted by Brandon A:
I'm smoking 2 butts for fathers day, and would like to do these also. Would one of those large disposable tin turkey pans work for this?
Or do I need to find something else? Thanks,

Brandon
Brandon, Yep that would work. I use a 1/2 foil pan (12.75 X 10.25 X 2.5) works great. They are just big enough, barely. I buy them in a big pack at BJ's
 
I was thinking, maybe I should double the foil pan (use 2) to make it more sturdy? Seems the beans will be pretty heavy, and I wouldent want to dump them while taking them off the bottom grate...


Brandon
 
Hi Gentlemen! Sorry for the delay. I just caught this thread by accident---I haven't been able to keep up with things here lately.
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I didn't know about the cakesnthings site. Thanks for that informtion. Sur la Table has a 14-inch by 3-inch Magic Line cake pan ($16.95) that is perfect for the WSM’s bottom rack. (A pan only 2 inches deep would be full to the rim and hard to stir): http://tinyurl.com/53fvl5

I've used the foil half-chafer pans but they are so full that I often couldn't get the whole recipe in and had to add the last of it later. This made it hard to stir during the first half of the cook until the beans had reduced a bit.

I would definitely double-pan the foil pans to make them sturdier.

Don't worry about having trouble cleaning the cake pan. It's actually quite easy because of the low temps of the smoke.

Todd, the cook will probably be a little shorter due to the wider pans. It will go a little longer if you don't stir in the nice crust on top often. That crust is a benefit of the wider pans. The length of time of the cook also depends on how thick you like your beans. I personally like them a little soupy, so that they don't mound much on the plate but don't swamp the other foods either. I often provide small bowls for them. I don't know the size pans that were used in the original recipe, but I'd plan on the full 6 hours and pull them early when they are right for you. They reheat very well.

Rita
 
Originally posted by Rita Y:

I've used the foil half-chafer pans but they are so full that I often couldn't get the whole recipe in and had to add the last of it later. This made it hard to stir during the first half of the cook until the beans had reduced a bit.

That crust is a benefit of the wider pans. The length of time of the cook also depends on how thick you like your beans. I personally like them a little soupy, so that they don't mound much on the plate but don't swamp the other foods either. I often provide small bowls for them.
I bend the lip up to get more room, and yes some of the sauce might drip out, if the WSM isn't perfectly level.
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See I don't stir them at all. I put the pan of beans in under the butts or brisket right before going to bed when doing cooks for the guys at work. It does get a great crust on top of them. I use the Head Country Hickory sauce in them so there's where some of the smoke flavor comes from. Guys just love these beans, I dare not bring in anything else.
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Good idea, Bryan, about bending the lip up. And it's good to know that you can get away without stirring. Do you leave the beans under the butts for the entire length of the cook? How many hours total for the beans?

Do you skim off any of the grease from the beans?

I'm glad to hear that they are so popular.
Rita
 
Do you leave the beans under the butts for the entire length of the cook? How many hours total for the beans?

Do you skim off any of the grease from the beans?
Rita, Beans go under for about 6-6.5 hrs. If there gets to be an excess of drippings on top I'll skim or towel off the grease. But usually the pan is so full, and where the WSM sits on the walk, it's sloped (for water run off) just enough, that the excess runs off the top of the beans and into the foil lined pan.
 
All,

The pans I bought from cakesnthings worked real nice. They are the same size, 14" diameter by 3" deep and were about $16 each if I remember correctly.

I bought 2 and did a double batch. The only hard part was removing the top grate to get to the bottom pan for stiring every 30-45 minutes. I could not stir it through the access door. So I would take the top pan off, set it on the ground, lift the top grate enough to get a ladle in and stir the bottom pan, then replace the top pan. I also rotated the pans 1/2 way through.

Mine took closer to 8 hours but probably because I was only running about 225-235 on temps, and this was ok for me because I had the extra time.

Everybody loved them.

For my tastes, they seemed a little sweet, almost like they were in syrup. I followed the original recipe to the tee, even ordering the chamayo chili power and texas pete sauce. I think next time I will try to up the heat a little and see if that balances out the sweet for my own personal tastes.

Todd
 
Originally posted by Todd Randall:
For my tastes, they seemed a little sweet, almost like they were in syrup. I followed the original recipe to the tee, even ordering the chamayo chili power and texas pete sauce. I think next time I will try to up the heat a little and see if that balances out the sweet for my own personal tastes.

Todd
Todd, What syrup did you use, Maple or Cane? Also depending on what brand BBQ sauce you used, that's going to have an impact on how sweet they are. You can double the Chimayo, and black pepper I do. And I just use 1/4 cup of muscavado sugar.
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Most people seem to like the beans sweeter than I do. On my next batch I'm going to reduce the brown sugar and maple syrup a bit, or just omit the brown sugar entirely. I'll mix up the batch without the sugar and taste to check the sweetness level.

I've been meaning to mention about increasing the Chimayo powder. The recipe calls for an amount that pretty much disappears. The recipe calls for more Texas Pete for heat because the beans need the vinegar component. They are still not very spicy, which leaves room for adjustment to individual tastes.

When stirring the beans on the lower grate, I find it easier to remove the whole top grate instead of just the pan since the grate has handles. Be sure to plan a place to set the grate first, though!
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Rita
 
Bryan and Rita,

I used maple syrup (first time I ever bought pure maple syrup, OUCH at the $$) in mine and sweet baby rays bbq sauce.

I made the mistake the first time around of hooking up my maverick pit therm to the underside of the top grate, hence the reason why I had to remove the pan and just lift the top grate. I'll find another place for it next time or just use the dome therm.

A very tasty recipe none-the-less, I've never had beens doctored up like this before, everybody asks what's in them that makes them taste so good :)

Todd
 
Just made up a double batch of these beans for my Newphews graduation party on Sat. I'll put them on the WSM before leaving for work in the AM. Not sure if a double batch will feed 35-40 but it's a little late now, so I'm hoping I'll have enough.
 
I stumbled on this recipe last week as I was checking the BRITU recipe. The beans turned out absolutely FANTASTIC! I did probably a half recipe. For the meat addition, I luckily had some smoked ham from a previous smoke that had got too done and dried out, but was perfect for this!

I have a couple of questions. The recipe is so specific about the chimayo pepper, yet there is only 1/4 teaspoon for well over an 8 lb. recipe? Come on! How on earth can that little bit contribute? I wasn't able to get on short notice, so I used ancho chili, but still never tasted that. Same thing for Texas Pete sauce. I was fortunate to find it at local Kroger, on sale no less, but even that, at 3 tsp, why so specific?

I was leary of the peppers, but it tasted good. I used sorghum molasses instead of regular, and put the bacon on first thing. Next time I will even consider part cooking the bacon first. Love the added flavor, can't stand excessive or uncooked fat.

I also avoided the drippings for the same reason. Appreciate the added flavor, but can't take the extra poundage. I will search for alternatives to the suggested pans which are alumnium, with all of the tomato and vinegar base, too much chance for reactive metal. I used a stainless steel bowl wrapped in alum. foil for easy cleanup, but did not let the beans touch the aluminum.

Thanks for the recipe, I look forward to trying again and posting any tweaks.

Oh yeah, one other thing. If you did put this on the bottom to catch the drippings, how the heck you supposed to stir ecvery 30 minutes as suggested? Removing top rack and ribs seems a little detrimental to their process, which says to absolutely NOT open for first 3 hours?
 

 

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