How much baked beans for 16?

[steveD]

I'm making pulled pork and baked beans for ~16 people on Friday. I plan to use canned beans and doctor them up a bit, but I'm not sure how many cans I'll need. I know they say to allow for a cup per person, but how many cups are in a can? There will also be other sides including corn on the cobb, coleslaw, etc.

 

[Andrew F]

This is my riff on Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans, I make this and it will feed my party of 12-13 with leftovers, so it should do 16. Add another normal size can of beans if you think you will need more. That is assuming that you are serving other food as well.


Smokey Beans.




For a LARGE crowd.

8-10 strips of bacon cut into 1/2 inch squares ( I usaly just cook the whole THICK CUT package and toss it in.)
½ Medium onion, diced ( or one small. Dice it pretty fine, not quite a mince, but big pieces will remain big pieces )
1 - 2 Chipotles in adobo – seeded. ( or not, depends on your heat tollerance.)
1 - 55 ounce can Bush’s Baked Beans ( yep, the big can, not the industral gallon size, but then next one down!)
1-8 ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained ( don't skip this, you do need it!)
1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Cup ketchup
½ Tbs. dry (ground) mustard
1-2 Tbs. Texas Pit style BBQ sauce



Sauté bacon pieces in fry pan until crispy and remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Sauté onion and Chipotles until tender.

In whatever you will be cooking them in (I use a 5 qt. stainless pot) combine everything. (While mixing if things look dry, add additional ketchup 1/4 -1/2 cup at a time)

Place in a 220-250° smoker for 2 1/2 – 3+ hours or more, make sure temperature of the baked beans reaches 165° for food safety. Stick them on the bottom rack so you can catch all the dripping goodness from the top rack. Unless you are cooking chicken, 'cause that's nasty! Add ketchup if they get too dry. Or place in a 350° oven and bake for 1 hour.
Finish with a BBQ sauce



NOTE: If you are making these beans as a side dish for Kansas City style pork ribs, smoke the removed skirt meat for 1-1 1/2 hours, then dice the skirt meat and stir into the Baked Beans.


For those of you who plan on putting your LARGE crowd beans in a dutch oven (minus the lid) and then into the smoker; a single batch will fill a 10 inch regular dutch oven (4 quart) almost to the top. A batch will fill a 10 inch deep dutch oven (5 quart) with room enough for stirring without worrying about losing beans over the sides.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Well, there are 8 ounces in a cup, the "regular size" can of beans is typically about 14 oz. The bigger size of Bush's beans is 28, that's my normal size can. I will be doing a double butted feast (2 half pans) with a half pan of beans, one of Mac and cheese, about an equal amount of potato salad and myriad other sides. That will be ample for the 20-25 I expect. A half pan will end up holding about three of the 28 oz. cans and the associated smacked sausage, onion and other doctorfication.
I find it very easy to overthink anyone of these feasts. I am sitting on my hands this year, if it all fails, I will go back to thinking about this in March!
Don't sweat having too much, as long as everyone has fun it will be a success!
Good timing is best, the smarter you work, the less frustration when it comes to plating the feast. I try to have everything pretty much ready to go a half hour early to account for my own shortcomings and early arrivals!
It will be fine.

 

[timothy]

You can never have too many beans, so for parties I buy the big restaurant style can from GFS for less than a fin and doctor it up.

Tim

 

[J Hasselberger]

Andrew, that sounds like a most excellent recipe. Add a couple of cases of beer and you're ready for a Blazing Saddles remake!

Jeff

 

[steveD]

Well, there are 8 ounces in a cup, the "regular size" can of beans is typically about 14 oz. The bigger size of Bush's beans is 28, that's my normal size can. I will be doing a double butted feast (2 half pans) with a half pan of beans, one of Mac and cheese, about an equal amount of potato salad and myriad other sides. That will be ample for the 20-25 I expect. A half pan will end up holding about three of the 28 oz. cans and the associated smacked sausage, onion and other doctorfication.
I find it very easy to overthink anyone of these feasts. I am sitting on my hands this year, if it all fails, I will go back to thinking about this in March!
Don't sweat having too much, as long as everyone has fun it will be a success!
Good timing is best, the smarter you work, the less frustration when it comes to plating the feast. I try to have everything pretty much ready to go a half hour early to account for my own shortcomings and early arrivals!
It will be fine.

I know there are 8 fluid ounces in a cup, but I thought the ounces listed on the cans was the weight, not the volume measurement...

Serving everything and timing are the east parts on this one... It is a family reunion camping trip. I'm cooking dinner for people arriving Friday evening, so people will all be rolling it at random times. My plan is to have the pork and beans cooked by lunch time, wrap the butts and pan of beans and put it all in a cooler to hold temp. When people start getting hungry (expecting this to be around 5 or 6), I'll move the beans into a crockpot and pull the pork. Once first round of eating is done, the pork will be moved to a 2nd crockpot to keep it hot for the rest of the guests. I just do not do a whole lot of cooking for larger crowds like this (I've really only been getting into doing more of the cooking at home the last couple of years, the vast majority of which has been on my ) and don't want to run out of food...

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Like I said, it'll be fine. No crockpots for the feast here, all will end up in chafing dashes, no cords for kids to trip over!
I figured you knew the ounce measurement but, in the heat of kitchen work sometimes it's easy to lose track of even some basics if it's new ground.
All but Mac and cheese will run on Weber's and that would too if I had a 3rd (or 2-22's) it simply won't fit on the 22 and 18 combination, doggone it!

 

[steveD]

My hope is to be able to fit the 2 pork butts + a pan of beans on the kettle that I'll be cooking on. I figure to start the coals around 5 so my temp will be stabilized and I can get the pork rolling by 6. Add the beans around 10 AM or so, so that hopefully the beans and butts will be done together before lunch time. Then when I get back after meeting up at a winery for lunch I can relax and spend the afternoon sipping suds instead of cooking. Or, I might just wait and cook the beans after we get back from lunch... just means I'll have to use a bit more charcoal to get everything done.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Sounds like a fine plan!

 

[Andrew F]

My hope is to be able to fit the 2 pork butts + a pan of beans on the kettle that I'll be cooking on. I figure to start the coals around 5 so my temp will be stabilized and I can get the pork rolling by 6. Add the beans around 10 AM or so, so that hopefully the beans and butts will be done together before lunch time. Then when I get back after meeting up at a winery for lunch I can relax and spend the afternoon sipping suds instead of cooking. Or, I might just wait and cook the beans after we get back from lunch... just means I'll have to use a bit more charcoal to get everything done.

Sounds good. You could even put the bean on the the "fire" grate under the meat on the "food" grate. That way both would be on "indirect heat."

Andrew, that sounds like a most excellent recipe. Add a couple of cases of beer and you're ready for a Blazing Saddles remake!

Jeff

Want some beans Mr. Taggert?