The Baked Bean Blog
I had scheduled Memorial Day weekend such that I would get to spend a couple days up at the lakes with my family. Loaded the family up and got away for a bit. I had the pleasure of returning to two rooms that I had been neglectful of in recent history. The response from these rooms was proof I shouldn't have stayed away so long. Friday night was a packed house at Innspiration Winery outside of Linn Grove. It's their final season of operation and it was a huge crowd. Aside from the great wine, and music, they also had a BBQ food truck. I'm going to assume that the vast majority of the folks were there for the food. It was delicioius. More of that just below. We had folks out on the patio in the rain. Standing room only inside. It was a rowdier crowd, but there was a certain warmth in that celebration. They were kind enough to provide us with lodging, so my wife and son got to listen to the first half of my performance. There's a definite warmth in watching him respond to these songs.
Enough with the feel good. Let's talk beans. Like I mentioned up there, they had a BBQ food truck on site. Ribs were great. Coleslaw was good. The baked beans were fantastic. These came in a small to medium sized plastic cup. Before I could even take a bite, people at my table were telling me how good they thought they were. You could tell just by looking at this dish that it was going to be something. The heart of this recipe is a single bean, the trustworthy navy bean. Though it was just the one type they were cooked down very well. Tender with some substance. What it lacked in bean variety it more than made up for with it's additions. They helped to fill the mouthfeel void I was looking for. There's nothing funny about that last sentence at all. In what is an all-too-common occurrence, it seems, meat is often left out of this side dish. It doesn't have to be the main focus, in fact it shouldn't be, but it does belong (in my opinion). The kitchen at Smokin' Double D's add's a spicy ground sausage to the mix. So much flavor on it's own. Really a nice addition. They also had some vegetables cooked down with the beans to lend to the mouthfeel. I know there was cooked onion in the dish, as it should be. It also appeared to have bell peppers in the mix. You might expect a dish that has beans, sausage, onions, and peppers would be relatively heavy. However, the ratio of sauce to food was perfect. That's not the only way that the sauce shined. There was a perfect balance of a sweet and heat in this sauce. Enough to let you know it's there, but not enough to stop you from eating. There was also a noticeable aroma and flavor of smoke with the dish and that rounded out this incredible side dish. But, Jordan, were there any downsides? The beans were cooked well, but there was only one type of bean, the navy bean. For my preference, I'd like to have seen some additional great northerns or what have you. Again, that's personal preference. That doesn't make it a bad dish by any means. So, no reader, there wasn't a downside at all. I can't overstate how refreshing a dish this was. There was serious effort put into making these beans. Ratings (On a scale of 1-5) Appearance: 5 Flavor: 5 Mouthfeel: 5 (Perfect score!) Total Score: 15 For what it's worth, Taking your family on the road with you: 5
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