This is the perfect recipe for people who love baked beans. It’s also the perfect recipe for people who hate them.
Baked beans are polarizing: At least on their home turf in New England, they often taste as much like a jug of molasses as a wholesome pot of stew. (In the U.K. — where baked beans were considered a luxury import starting in the 1880s and are now eaten for breakfast — the standard can of Heinz baked beans is half as sweet as it is here.) And, according to some, the best recipes are made from a base of canned pork 'n beans. As key ingredients go, it would be hard to get more anticlimactic than that.
This version, from Montreal's Joe Beef restaurant, dials back the sugar (and the pork 'n beans) so we can taste everything else. It has everything we love — or could love — about baked beans, the smoky, tangy, meaty roundness of them, without tasting like dessert. It also doesn't technically use beans, but their smaller relative, the lentil.
"It fell on lentils but it could be any vegetable, any whole grain or legume," chef and co-owner Fred Morin told me. "The combination of tomato, brown sugar, mustard and onion works magic always. Celeriac like baked beans, even baked beans stock as a sauce for duck. It's the coureur des bois 'Doritos' flavor."
Using lentils, importantly, also means that these baked "beans" cook in a fraction of the time. Where from-scratch baked beans can take anywhere from 2 hours (even starting with good old pork 'n beans) to the better part of a day, this recipe calls for the red lentils you'd typically see used in dal, which swiftly break down into mush and drink up nearby seasonings.
These lentils stand on their own — a bowl of them could be dinner (and tomorrow's very good lunch), or you could add fried eggs, or toast, or a pile of wilted greens.
Joe Beef might be famous for the Double Down and horse filet with occasional horse jerky, but they don't overdo these things carelessly. They're surprisingly good at finding restraint and balance, of swelling up savory and sweet and smoky until they're just enough and no more. Here, to perhaps reassert who they are, they recommend a side of pork chop.
It's a very good pairing. But in lieu, Kitchen Arts & Letters co-owner Matt Sartwell told me, "I've learned to drop in leftover roasted pork shoulder: If I canned the stuff, I could put Van Camp's out of business."
Joe Beef’s Lentils Like Baked Beans
From "The Art of Living According to Joe Beef" (Ten Speed Press, 2011)
Serves 4
4 slices bacon, finely diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
4 cups water
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. maple syrup, plus more as needed
2 Tbsp. neutral oil
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar, plus more as needed
2 Tbsp. Colman’s dry mustard
1 tsp. pepper, plus more as needed
1 bay leaf
Salt
Preheat the over to 350 degrees. In an ovenproof pot with a lid, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes, or until softened. Then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.
Add the lentils, water, ketchup, maple syrup, oil, vinegar, mustard, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir well and season with salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, place in the oven, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.
Taste and correct the seasoning with salt, pepper, maple syrup, and vinegar. Serve hot now or later.
This article originally appeared on Food52.com: http://food52.com/blog/11348-joe-beef-s-lentils-like-baked-beans
Food52 is a community for people who want to eat well and live better. Follow them at Food52.com, and check out their kitchen and home shop, Provisions.
About the Author
