Cowboy beans recipe

Most barbecue joints serve ladlefuls of smoky, deep-flavored cowboy beans alongside slabs of ribs and mounds of pulled pork. We wanted to make those creamy-textured, saucy beans at home to accompany our own barbecue. To get there, we used navy beans. We found that bacon was a convenient substitute for smoky barbecued meat. We blended mustard, barbecue sauce, and brown sugar for sweet-spicy, deep flavor a fair amount of garlic and onion helped, too. But the real secret ingredient in this recipe: coffee. The roasted, slightly bitter flavor tied all the flavors together. Using a Dutch oven ensured that the sugars in our saucy beans didn’t scorch and that the beans themselves cooked evenly and consistently. You’ll get fewer blowouts if you soak the beans overnight, but if you’re pressed for time, you can quick-salt-soak your beans: In step 1, bring the salt, water, and beans to a boil in the Dutch oven. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans and proceed with step 2.