Ultimate Great Northern Beans

"I usually cook these outdoors, suspending a cast iron pot over a campfire but honestly, they taste about the same on the stovetop. And the flavor is just great. If you've yet to adopt a cooked beans recipe, this might be the one you're looking for. It's right out of Appalachia."
 
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photo by Derf2440 photo by Derf2440
photo by Derf2440
photo by Derf2440 photo by Derf2440
photo by Derf2440 photo by Derf2440
photo by Derf2440 photo by Derf2440
photo by Derf2440 photo by Derf2440
Ready In:
11hrs
Ingredients:
9
Serves:
8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Make sure that there is twice as much water as beans because they will swell up.
  • In a large cooking pot, pour in the cooking oil and toss in the smoked jowl pieces. Stir and allow them to sizzle over medium heat for 5 or 6 minutes. After they brown a bit, deglaze the pot with about 4 ounces of the chicken broth.
  • Add the onion and allow to simmer until the onion is tender, stirring often.
  • Rinse the beans in fresh water a final time and, after draining, add them, plus all the remaining ingredients into the pot. This should include the 48 ounces of water listed in the ingredients.
  • Boil, covered, over low heat until beans are tender, stirring occasionally (about 2-3 hours).
  • Serve with cornbread, fried potatoes, eggs and biscuits.
  • If you wish, you can use chunks of ham or bacon instead of pork jowl.

Questions & Replies

  1. When you say soak the beans, is that only if the beans are there dried variety? I have a 15 oz can that's already in liquid.
     
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Reviews

  1. I feel bad beacuase I have made these many times and have not taken the time to review them. This has become a staple recipe for me and is enjoyed by all of my family. I like to pair the beans with Mike Garcia's Sweet Cornbread, Recipe #83625. The sweetness of the cornbread with the spiciness of the beans compliment each other very well. I have never used hog jowl but have had great success with ham chunks and ham hocks. I would have loved to have had this recipe when I was a Scout leader, I think it would have been wonderful cooked over an open fire in a Dutch Oven alongside some peach dump cake (a sort of peach cobbler prepared in a Dutch Oven)!
     
  2. Oh. My. Gawd. These are insanely good. Made exactly as directed, except threw in a ham bone with meat on it. Used the quick soak method (I forgot to soak them last night, but reeeaaaally wanted beans tonight!) and cooked it all together for 2 hours. Came out so freak delish!!! Just moved to the south and this was my first time making beans. OOH you made me look like a pro! Thanks so much!!
     
  3. Absolutely a 5-star recipe. Boneman, I never cared for cooked beans but these are delicious. DH and perennial dinner guest also gave them a high-five. The rotel was a perfect addition. I used a leftover ham bone and didn't brown it. Just put all ingredients in the pot and let 'er rip. I waited an hour to add the rotel tomatoes because I know sometimes tomatoes make the beans hard. These beans were perfect, neither hard nor mushy. There was a lot of liquid but I will mush up some of the beans and make soup for later on. All the photos are misleading; the beans are beautifully white and red, very appetizing. Thanks so much for posting this recipe......Janet
     
  4. This recipe is delicious. I used a ham hock and cooked it in a cast iron pot. Followed the directions exactly. We really enjoyed it. I will definitely make it again! Thanks for sharing.
     
  5. Okay.. so i made this recipe with a few tweaks and it turned out amazing!! I soaked the beans over night, drained, and rinsed them. I used 2 lbs instead of one. I boiled 2 smoked turkey legs in water to cover for about 2 hours until the meat was tender. I took those out of the water and shredded the meat returning it to the pot. From there I followed the recipe but I added fire roasted tomatoes instead of the rotel, I added 4 chicken bouillion cubes, 2 bay leaves, I added 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion diced, 1/2 green bell pepper, 1/2 a stick of butter and 1/2 pack of liptons onion soup mix.
     
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Tweaks

  1. So glad I spent a few minutes searching for a new way to cook great northern beans. These are wonderful. I did cut back on the liquid a little bit as I don't like my beans too 'soupy' and I went ahead and used all of two 10-oz. cans of Rotelle. Both a smoked pork hock and chopped up ham. Delicious. Perfect, served with corn muffins (substitute sour cream for the milk, add a handful of shredded cheddar and a drained 4 oz. can of chopped chilies).
     
  2. Extremely tasty beans. I definitely think the previous user who didn't soak overnight probably missed out on some of the texture, since they completely fill up with water overnight and become extremely tender and more mushy when you cook them then. I made a lot of replacements since I didn't have the rotel or the pork. Changes: added a tablespoon of garlic to the oil in the beginning, used chicken, sausage and turkey bacon (the meat I had available), instead of adding water, I added more juice from the tomatoes, also had 24 oz can of tomatoes I used instead, and chopped up two red peppers for the spiciness, also used powdered vegetable stock with water, and supplemented any extra water needed with more vegetable broth (stock water), which only ended up being one additional cup. even so it was super tasty!
     
  3. I really liked these beans - I made as written except I had already started a quick soak method (when I decided to see what was on this site) and as I was pretty much snowed in, so had to substitute bacon for the pork jowl. I really liked the end flavor and texture but I had way too much liquid (ended up taking almost 4 cups of liquid out of pot and still had a good bit of liquid) I am not sure if this is due to using quick soak as opposed to overnight soaking method. I am only giving these the 4 stars this time, but next time will try the overnight method and see how the liquid amounts work out, I am looking forward to trying the pork jowls. I turned the leftover beans into some of the best chili I have ever eaten. Thank you Bone Man for your recipe.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
 
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