Smoked Baked Beans

I love barbeque.  I live in Austin, Texas, which has great barbeque in its own right.  The Salt Lick is wonderful.  Artz Rib House is terrific.  Iron Works is good and County Line is also great.  I live less than 30 minutes from what is arguably the mecca for Texas barbeque, Lockhart, Texas.  There you'll find Smitty's Market, Kruez Market, Chisholm Trail Barbeque, and Black's Barbeque, all within a mile of each other in downtown Lockhart.

I grew up, however, in Kansas City, Missouri, which, to my mind, is the epicenter for all barbeque.  The style is sweet and spicy and sloppy and to die for.  Now, this is not to disparage barbeque in Texas, but I cannot find beans like they make them in KC.  When I was growing up in KC, one of the treats that we'd have, usually on a Friday night, is Smokestack barbecue.  Our family would either pile into the station wagon and eat there out on Highway 71 or Dad and I would go get carryout. 

Now, all of the barbeque at the Smokestack is terrific, but what I really loved and love to this day is their Hickory Smoked Pit Beans.  They came in a little crock with bacon on the top and were creamy and smoky and sweet and sloppy, like all good Kansas City barbeque.

The Smokestack still lives, in better digs now, on 89th and Wornall Road, but I don't make it to KC as often as I'd like.  So, to save the cost of shipping or a plane ticket, I tried to make my own humble version of their great beans.  By all means, if you're in KC, eat Smokestack beans.  But if you can't make it to KC, give these a shot.

Smoked Baked Beans

Notes:  Use any kind of canned baked beans, Van Camps, Ranch Style, Bush's.  Just use a generic sort, nothing with say jalepenos in it.  Also, this is real variable.  Sweeten it, spice it up.  Make it yours.  And by all means, get yourself to KC for the real thing.  Use a smoker or a Webber or other grill using very low, indirect heat and wood chips, preferably hickory.

32 Ounces  Baked Beans

  2 Tablespoons  Molasses

  1 Teaspoon  Dry Mustard

  2 Tablespoons  Garlic Powder

  1 Cup  Ketchup

  1 Medium  Onion -- Minced

  1 Teaspoon  Salt

  1 Teaspoon  Cayenne Pepper

 1/4  Cup  Brown Sugar

  2  Tablespoons  Tomato Paste

  2  Teaspoons  Worcestershire Sauce

  5   Slices  Bacon

Mix first 11 ingredients together in large dutch oven.  Place bacon strips over top of beans.  Place pan in a smoker and smoke 2-3 hours.  Remove from smoker.  Dice bacon strips and return to beans.  Place beans on stove over low heat.  Simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.