Apologies for the awful photo, phone cam wasn't cooperating this day. But the flavor of these was too good to let a bad picture keep this wuff from posting a great recipe!

Vrghr has enjoyed the baked beans from the Colorado Smokehouse. They use over 5lbs of their slow-smoked brisket in their scratch-made beans. Wuff has often said these were the best beans west of the Mississippi! *GRIN*

Vrghr had been craving these since the restaurant near him closed. Not having pounds of smoked brisket available, wuff decided to try it with pounds of bacon and burger instead.

It worked a treat! The mix of spices and sweeteners along with the rest of the saucy ingredients created a complex and robust sauce that was sweet but not overly so. A bottle of Guinness Nitro served as the base, and was an excellent choice! The dark stout provided a noticeable and solid foundation for the sweeter flavors, and the addition of the coffee notes in the Nitro blend enhanced the savory aspects of the onion, garlic, bacon, and meat.

Wuffy used "Cranberry" type beans for his trial. They had a delightful flavor, but were a bit less tender than Vrghr wanted. Wuff has modified his recipe here to steam the beans longer, but substituting the more traditional Navy beans might help that also. You can also use Pinto beans for a lovely, creamy result that would work very well.

The sauce really turned out great on these! Sriracha and crushed red pepper flakes provide a nice "kick" of background heat that comes up at the end of the bite as the front is muted by the sweet maple and brown sugar notes. Complex interplay of mustard, Stout beer, Worcestershire sauce, soy's umami savoriness, and smoky paprika enhance the sauce's flavor.

And the rich flavors of the Bacon and ground Beef swim boldly through it all!

Wuff has no doubt that this could be even better with the use of several pounds of delicious smoked brisket. But if you don't have pounds of that sitting about waiting for you to make these beans, Vrghr is sure you'll have no regrets in using the bacon and beef in this recipe instead!

With all the meat, these are substantial enough to enjoy as a meal in themselves, as well as serving as a great side dish to a BBQ or grilled dish.
These are delicious hot or cool. ENJOY!

COOKING NOTES:
- - You can create these in a slow cooker as well. You will likely need to adjust the amount of liquid somewhat.
- - Pay special attention to the "layering" and "NO STIRRING" steps if using the Instant Pot. If the sauce becomes too thick near the bottom of the pot, you can get a "BURN" notice when the bottom layer overheats while coming to pressure
- - Wuff used Guinness Nitro as his beer, but feel free to sub in your favorite "adult beverage". Wuff suggests something with a bit of "body" instead of a light wheat or similar style, to stand up to the robust flavors. And not too bitter (IPAs). Or you can use Beef Stock/Broth if you want to avoid the alcohol completely
- - Vrghr used the "long soak" method for the beans, to get the best results. But you can also employ a "short soak" to speed things along. Just start with boiling water instead of cold, and let the beans soak for an hour or so. Then drain and rinse. Results are nearly as good
- - Vrghr lives at fairly high altitude (over 6,000 ft), so things boil at cooler temperatures here. This means wuff has to add time to his pressure stages for things like beans. If you find your beans falling apart or too soft for your tastes, you will want to cook the next batch 15-20 minutes less. You can always start at this reduced time, and then pressure cook them again if necessary, if you don't want to risk "too soft" results
- - Add anything acidic AFTER cooking the beans initially! Acid slows bean cooking and can make them tougher.


INGREDIENTS:
1.5 lb dried Beans (Cranberry, Navy, Great Northern, or Pinto)
2-3 Qts Water to soak the beans

Brown together
1 lb Bacon
1 lb lean Ground Beef
1 Onion, diced
2 Shallots, diced
2 TBS Tomato Paste
2 TBS minced Garlic

Bottom layer
1 bottle Stout Beer
2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Liquid Smoke (Wuff used Applewood, but hickory or mesquite would work too)
2 TBS light Soy Sauce
1 TBS Mustard Powder or 2 TBS Dijon Mustard
1 TBS Smoked Paprika
1 TBS Garlic Powder
1 TBS Onion Powder
2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
2-3 Bay Leaves

On top of the beans
1/3 C Brown Sugar
1/3 C Molasses
1/3 C Maple Syrup
1/3 C tomato Ketchup

Acidic – add after pressure cooking
2 TBS Hot Sauce (Sriracha)
2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

DIRECTIONS:
Fill Instant Pot's pot with tap water (don't need to put it in the cooker) and add beans. Let soak 6-8 hrs or overnight. Drain, rinse with cool water, and reserve the beans.

Dry out pot before frying up the next step

Cut up thick bacon into 1″ strips. Starting with cold pot, set pot to sauté and add the bacon. Starting from a cold pot renders more of the bacon fat before the bacon crisps. Sauté the bacon until it starts to crisp at edges. Do not crisp it up completely; the beans eat better with a little bit of chew to the meat.

Add the onions, shallots, minced garlic, tomato paste, and the hamburger Cook with the bacon in the fat. Season with the herbs and spices, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking until no pink remains on the meat and the onions are becoming translucent

Mix together the beer, liquid smoke, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour into pot and deglaze the bottom, making sure it’s clean of all brown bits. This not only helps to avoid a “burn” notice, but brings in all the wonderful flavors to the beans

Add ½ of the soaked beans, but DO NOT STIR. Leave the watery layer on the bottom intact to avoid burn notice

Add ½ the brown sugar, maple syrup, ketchup, and the bay leaf. DO NOT STIR. Add remaining beans but DO NOT STIR. Add the remaining sugar, syrup, and ketchup

Cook at high pressure for 70 minutes. Allow pressure to reduce naturally for 10 minutes when the cooking is done

Release steam, remove lid when the pin drops, add the acidic items (hot sauce (if using) & vinegar) and stir everything together. While stirring, watch for and fish out the bay leaves!

Set pot to Sauté, low, and allow to simmer about 5-10 minutes for the stirred flavors to continue to combine and the sauce to start to thicken

Vrghr’s beans were a bit more soupy than desired at this point. But if yours are too dry, you can add beef stock or more beer

Taste and adjust seasoning, hot sauce, tomato/ketchup, and sweetness. (If too sweet add some vinegar)

If too soupy, continue to simmer on sauté for 10 more min to reduce sauce further. If still too soupy, make slurry of 3 TBS cornstarch to 4 TBS cool water whisked together. Stir into the simmering beans and continue to cook until the milky appearance turns translucent and the sauce thickens

Serve warm and !DEVOUR!

NOTE: These store VERY well and will continue to thicken more in the refrigerator. The flavors are even better the second day!