Classic Summer Recipes: Baked Beans and Deviled Eggs
July 3, 2015 / By Greg Henry
Happy Fourth of July! Idon’t know what you’re doing this weekend, but Ibet it involves food. There’s so much summer food to enjoy it’s hard to know where to start your holiday menu planning. This year I’ve chosen acouple of enduring summer favorites to feature at our sizzling Palm Springs holiday house party. Burgers and Ice Cream always make an appearance on this very American holiday. I’ve got several recipes for both of these must-haves on this blog. But there are other classic summer recipes I’ve neglected to bring to these pages and I’d like to correct that omission for this Independence Day celebration.
Starting with Deviled Eggs and Baked Beans. Both of these classic summer recipes have been seasonally appropriate longer than the rocket’s red glare has been blazing across our sunny suburban backyards.
Baked beans go all the way back to the Puritans of New England. I’m not sure if they knew they were starting anew country, but I’m quite sure they knew that aromatic beans and sweet pork would feed Americans for generations tocome.
Deviled eggs are amore modern national trend, and they’ve become apicnic staple since at least the beginning of the twentieth century.
Classic Summer Recipes
I think you’ll see Ihaven’t strayed too far from the expected in either of these versions. After all, the best of these classic summer recipes are time-tested. So I’ve kept the recipes familiar and simply emphasized their simplicity and fresh flavors by choosing the best whole food ingredients.
Baked Beans: In the winter Iactually bake my “baked” beans. In the summer however, Ifind that this stove-top version takes half as long and doesn’t require turning on the oven. This recipe still has intense flavor from molasses and pork. It’s also just as thick and ruddy as its oven-baked counterpart – as good as American Baked Beans should be. It’s the Fourth of July after all, don’t settle for those soupy, bland beans the Brits serve on toast. The war is won! You don’t have to eat thatstuff.
Deviled Eggs: Deviled eggs can go in any direction you like. Creative versions show up on trendy restaurant menus. Home cooks (and quite afew bloggers) are inventing all sorts of devilish combinations. However, when the weather heats up Ithink we should all take it abit easy and look to the roots of these classic summer recipes. To me “deviling” an egg usually means seasoning the cooked and mashed yolks with some mayo, grainy mustard, and just afew herbs. Paprika makes them pretty, but it’s completely optional. This is how my mom made them in the 1970s. Except I’m fairly sure she used dried herbs. GREG
Expand Recipe…
Classic Baked Beans (Shortcut Method)
By: GregHenry
Print ThisRecipeTotal time Yield 8–10Source Adapted from Melissa Clark and Martha StewartPublished
Yes Icall this a “shortcut” method, but it’s still going to take you at least 5hours so plan accordingly.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried navy beans
- 4 ounce thick cut bacon
- 1 onion
- 2 clove garlic (peeled andminced)
- 3 cup tomato juice
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoon molasses
- 3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
Directions
Put beans in alarge bowl; cover with cold water by 2inches. Loosely cover beans with plastic wrap, and let soak at room temperature 7to 10 hours. You can alternatively parboil the beans in water enough water to cover by 2inches then cool in liquid 1hour. Drain once cooled and setaside.
If you soaked the beans then drain them now; transfer to alarge saucepan. Cover with cold water by 2inches. Bring to aboil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, covered, until beans are very tender, about 1hour. Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid; set beans and liquid aside. If you did not soak them, then cover the parboiled and drained beans with enough water to top them by 2inches. Simmer beans, partly covered, until just tender, about 1to 2hours depending upon age and size of beans; do not overcook.
Cut bacon crosswise into ½‑inch slices. Transfer to alarge Dutch oven or stockpot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is browned and cooked through, 8to 10 minutes. Transfer to abowl using aslotted spoon, leaving rendered fat in the pot. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4to 5minutes. Add the beans, reserved bacon, and about 4cups reserved cooking liquid.
In amedium bowl, mix together tomato juice, ketchup, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, brown sugar, mustard powder, turmeric and cayenne pepper (if using). Pour mixture into beans and stirwell.
Bring to aboil. Reduce heat. Cover, and cook at abare simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 1hour. Uncover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 2hours and 45 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper. If not serving immediately, let cool completely, and refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 2days. Reheat beans over medium-low heat before serving.
" ).html( $recipebox_html ).attr("id","print-this-recipe"); $("body").append( $new_recipe ); window.print(); $("body").removeClass("recipe-printing"); $("#print-this-recipe").remove(); return false; }); });
Expand Recipe…
Classic Deviled Eggs with FreshHerbs
By: GregHenry
Print ThisRecipeTotal time Yield 6–8Published
You will probably have extra yolk filling. Ilike to be generous because it makes the job of piping so much easier. You can save the extra to spread on toast with avocado.
Ingredients
- 8 extra-large eggs
- ⅓ cup mayonaisse (I use aheaping ⅓‑cup, but use your judgment)
- 1 teaspoon grainy mustard (you can substitute asmooth mustard if youprefer)
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar (or any flavorful vinegar)
- 3–4 teaspoon mixed minced fresh herbs (such as parsley, thyme, chives and chervil)
- Kosher salt and white pepper (to taste)
- paprika (to taste, optional)
Directions
Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Put eggs in amedium saucepan. Cover with cold water by 1inch. Bring to aboil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring gently as water begins to boil. Once boiled turn the burner to very, very low. Simmer the eggs 10 minutes exactly. Transfer to ice-water bath tocool.
Peel eggs; halve lengthwise. Carefully remove yolks; set whites aside. Using the back of aspoon, push yolks through afine-mesh sieve into amedium bowl.
Stir mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, mixed herbs into yolks. Season with apinch each salt and whitepepper.
Transfer yolk mixture to apastry bag fitted with apastry tip with at least a¼‑inch opening. Pipe mixture into whites, filling to ½inch over surface. Garnish with herb sprigs and alight sprinkle of paprika (optional).
Eggs can be covered and refrigerated up to 3hours.
