B​reaton baked beans recipe – pimped beans, the Polish way

I​t's a little bit hard to find an accurate history of baked beans. Some sources say the modern way of preparing baked beans has its orgins in Native American cuisine. Specifically in dishes cooked by people in the northeast and belonging to tribes including Narragansett, Penobsco or Iroquois. Beans were usually baked with meat, maple syrup, and sometimes even with bear fat. In general, the dish was high in calories and full of proteins and fat.

Another theory says that "Baked beans" evolved from Cassoulet, which is a slow cooked stew from Southern France. Cassoulet usually contains meat like pork, mutton, goose or duck, pork skin and white beans. The dish is said to have originated from Castelnaudary. Since 1999 an organization called "The Grand Brotherhood of the Cassoulet of Castelnaudary" has organized markets and competitions featuring Cassoulet.

Many countries around the world have their own variation of baked beans. Feijoada from Portugal (beans, pork or beef), Fagiolo Al Fiasco from Italy (bean stew baked overnight in a flask) or Breaton beans, which is a very well-known dish in Poland. It's made of white beans called "piękny Jaś" – which translates literally to "Beautiful John" 😂 – onion, sausages, spices, salt, pepper and a thick tomato sauce.

I d​ecided to pimp my comfort-childhood beans food a little bit by adding more vegetables and a bit of red wine. Let's jump to recipe!

B​reaton baked beans recipe

I​NGREDIENTS:

Package of b​eans (x600g – or more)

O​nion (x3)

B​ell pepper (x1)

S​weet corn (one can x80g)

C​arrot (x1)

G​arlic (x3 cloves)

S​ausage (x400g whatever you like)

Red wine ( 120 ml)

Tomato concentrate ( x1 little jar – 80-190g)

S​pices: bay leaf (x3), salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 teaspoon of bell pepper powder, 1 tablespoon of marjoram, 1/2 tablespoon of thyme.

A​dditionally for more spice: 3 drops of piri-piri sauce

M​ETHOD:

1​. Soak beans overnight in water (around 1 litre). Before cooking, change water to fresh, add some bay leaves and boil beans on the low heat around 1h (until beans will be tender).

B​eans before cooking

B​eans before cooking

2​. Meanwhile, prepare vegetables: grate the carrots over medium mesh, chop onion and bell pepper. Fry vegetables for 10-15 minutes in a frying pan. Add the sweetcorn (drained and rinsed) and minced garlic cloves.

3​. Cut sausage into slices, fry sausage in the same frying pan till gold colour. Add fried sausage to pot, then add 120 ml of wine, spices, tomato concentrate and cook for 20 minutes. Stir from time to time.

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G​reat meal

G​reat meal

B​reaton baked beans served with an egg and garlic toasts.

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