I'm back with another bean blog! It’s been a while since I’ve had the canned classic of "franks and beans" and it brings back some childhood nostalgia. I often like to pick foods to cook that I may have had as a kid or foods I grew up on that weren’t necessarily made from scratch.
Our version of beans and franks or “franks and beans” dates to the early introduction of canned foods in America (mid 1800s) when allegedly people mixed the small, canned weenies with canned baked beans eventually becoming one in their own. Today the dish is so well known, it can be found on any grocery store shelf and even has its own national holiday.
The franks here can be any brand of your favorite hot dog. I’ve chosen an all-beef dog from our neighbor Gene’s Sausage Shop in Lincoln Square. While I was there, I also picked up a ham hock which is a classic bean or broth ingredient that I thought would really intensify the flavor of my beans as well as the overall dish. I kept the ingredients simple in this recipe, really relying on the smoky, meaty flavors to be the show of this bean dish.
Any bean will do here, and as you know from previous blogs, I have a surplus of beans to work through at home, so I’ve chosen one that I have yet to use. As usual, I soak my beans overnight then cooked the beans by themselves in water and a few aromatics including the ham hock which is a cured and smoked pork knuckle or shank of pork.
The remainder of the ingredients are just some basic items to give me a slightly sweet yet tangy flavored sauce. Think BBQ sauce meets tomato soup. This dish can be a meal in itself but can also work as an accompaniment to perogies or something off the grill like barbeque.
Franks & Beans
Yield 4-6 servings
Prep time: 30 minutes
Inactive time: 8 hours
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 10.5 hours
1/2 pound dry beans
6 cups water
1 ham hock
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bay leaves
Cinnamon stick
Salt
4 hot dogs, cut up
1 Tablespoon oil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup ketchup
3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup bean cooking liquid
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Salt to taste
1 cup sour cream, for garnish
1. Soak beans overnight in cold water.
2. Drain beans and place in a medium pot, cover with six cups water or enough to cover the beans by 2 inches.
3. Add the ham hock, garlic, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook partially covered for 1-2 hours or until beans are tender.
4. Season the beans with salt about 10 minutes before they are done cooking.
5. Heat oil in a sauté pan and sear the hot dogs. Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook 3 more minutes.
6. Add the ketchup, BBQ sauce, sugar, soy sauce, to the pan along with the cooking liquid from the beans. Simmer in the pan until thickened.
7. Drain the beans but reserve all the cooking liquid to the side. Combine the franks with the beans in the pot.
8. Pour in an additional cup of the bean broth and simmer the beans and franks for 30 minutes.
9. Plate and garnish with sour cream.
I would love for you to use this post as inspiration to try and recreate some of your childhood classics from scratch! Some other ideas might be canned creamed corn or a canned cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving, maybe your favorite Salsbury steak frozen TV dinner. Remember those? If you do try a retro redo, be sure to share it with me in the comments below.
If you haven’t been to Gene's it is right across the street from The Chopping Block on Lincoln Avenue so next time you’re visiting us, check them out for some inspiration before or after your class. Our grilling classes are start on the patio this month and run as late as October!
