Mikey's beans has been a favorite of mine for a loooooong time. It makes me remember family BBQ's in the "summer house" at G-Mom and G-Pop's house. I liked to help set up for the 4th of July's or Memorial Day's we spent out there and have very good memories... putting out the plastic table cloths, pulling out mismatched silverware in the wicker picnic caddy and hoping that I wouldn't get a splinter from the wooden picnic benches out there. G-Mom would be getting the food ready, G-Pop would be fooling around (this usually involved fireworks, remote control cars or practical jokes) and my sisters and I would probably be terrorizing each other or practicing our dance recital moves in the driveway. This is how good memories and good recipes are made.
I had my Mom read off the Mikey's beans recipe from the OLMA cookbook. It was pretty vague, so I called G-Mom for the specifics.
Now, I've asked G-Mom for this recipe before and have gotten a response something like "you just put all the beans in with the liquid and cook it". This time I really tried to get the specifics of the secret recipe.
ME: "How long do you cook it?"
G-MOM: "Until it's done."
ME: "How do you know it's done?"
G-MOM: "It thickens."
ME: What kind of beans?
G-MOM: "Doesn't really matter. Use the butter beans, kidney beans and the regular beans."
No where in the grocery store will you find anything labeled "regular beans". Trust me, I looked.
Here is what I bought and had a fun time stacking:
DON'T buy Ranch Beans. Well, you can buy them, but they don't go in this recipe. I thought they would, but as soon as I opened the can I realized it wasn't the right flavor of baked beans and I couldn't go back and get a picture re-do. It doesn't help that there is no description on the can as to what is inside. BUT from experience I've now learned: they are savory pinto beans with a strong cumin flavor.Ingredients:
pound of ground beef (could substitute veggie crumbles or ground turkey)
small onion, chopped
ketchup, mustard, brown sugar
can of butter beans
can of kidney beans
can of baked beans
can of BBQ baked beans
Now, nothing at the store is labeled as simply "BBQ beans" or "baked beans". I got Bush's Original Baked Beans and Bush's Maple Bacon Beans and it worked well.
Step one: Brown the ground beef. G-Mom makes this whole recipe in an electric skillet/fry pan thingy. I just did it on the stove top.
Step two: Cook onion. In order to do this, I set aside the browned beef and used the same pan.
Step three: Put the beef back in the skillet and pour in all those beans (including liquid). Check out the diagram I made.
Step five: Season. No finer seasonings than ketchup, mustard and brown sugar! G-Mom couldn't give me measurements for this part, so I just eye-balled it.
Step six: Stir and cook on low until sauce thickens.
Here's what it looks like when it's done:
My review: I absolutely love this recipe! It's my definition of comfort food. Mine came out pretty good, but it didn't taste like G-mom's of course. I like how it is sweet and tangy. My favorite are the butter beans! Mmmmmm!
PS: I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS IS CALLED MIKEY'S BEANS!
3 comments:
I liked adding a little bit of hot sauce to mine to make it a more interesting. It's certainly good on its own, too. I was a little hesitant about a dish whose key seasonings are ketchup and mustard, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The name Mikey's Beans comes from a time when G-Mom and G-Pop visited out west and they ate these bean at a chuck wagon or something...I am sure she will tell you the story.
Gmom wrote down the recipe for me a while ago. There's no brown sugar (at least in the version she wrote down that time). She wrote that they ate these beans in Scottsdale. "man" said it was his father's recipe hence the name. They didn't know what was in it when they got home but gmom tried to replicate it and the rest is history! This would be great for crock pot!
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