Heinz Baked Beans are a brand of baked beans produced by the H.J. Heinz Company. They have been sold as “Heinz Beanz” in the United Kingdom since 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Baked_Beans
So the next entry on my voyage down the Wikipedia rabbit hole was Heinz Baked Beans. Rather than create a whole new recipe, I decided to go back and revisit my British baked beans recipe from a year and a half ago. Heinz is, after all, the leading brand of beans in the UK, so that recipe was largely based on Heinz copycat recipes to start with. I doubt that narrowing my focus to only use those recipes would change it very much.
This time I did use the optional molasses, which I suppose probably is the least Heinzlike addition that snuck into the recipe. The beans still have the tomatoey sauce that British baked beans are known for, but the hint of molasses gives them a flavor that American palates will recognize as Baked Beans. They are quite delicious either way, especially served over some good sourdough toast.
I also tried baking them, rather than simmering on the stovetop. While everything cooked fine, I found that with the times I listed the sauce needed to reduce more. As it was getting late and I was hungry, I just put the pot back on the stovetop and boiled it down for a few minutes, so I can’t really say how much longer they would need to bake. Of course, this recipe has a high sauce to bean ratio to start with, so how far to reduce the sauce is probably down to personal preference.
The Wikipedia list I’m currently working my way down includes some distinctly Not Food entries, including the one that comes up next. Some of them are obviously best just skipped over, but other’s could still make for some entertaining blogging, and I’m trying to decide where to draw the line; do I stick to only things I can write recipes for, or should I branch out to other bean related topics? Depending on what I decide to do I might be absent here for a while. Either way, I’ll fill you in on what the entry I’m debating about is next time.
Read on below for my original British baked beans post.
British Baked Beans
Originally, Heinz baked beans were prepared in the traditional United States manner for sales in Ireland and Great Britain. Over time, the recipe was altered to a less sweet tomato sauce without maple syrup, molasses, or brown sugar in order to appeal to the tastes of the United Kingdom. It is this version of baked beans which is most commonly used outside of the United States. Baked beans are commonly eaten on toast or as part of a full English, Scottish, or Irish breakfast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans#
Commercial canning of baked beans began in the US around 1895, by the H.J. Heinz company and they soon began exporting their beans to the UK and elsewhere. However, over time they altered the recipe to appeal to the tastes of their British customers, so if you buy a can of baked beans in Great Britain today it will be in a tomato based sauce that is less sweet than the molasses based sauce Americans are used to. Now the British version is actually imported back to the USA for sale in specialty shops and to British expats.
Now I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted the commercial version of this dish, so I can’t really say how my recipe measures up. However I based it on a bunch of copycat versions, most of which had rave reviews from British baked bean lovers.
While I’m sure they are also served in much the same ways we serve baked beans here in America, as a side dish, there are two very quintessentially British meals that involve baked beans. The first is beans on toast. Yes, that’s pretty much what it sounds like, baked beans on a piece of toast, maybe with some cheese melted over the top or other additions if you’re feeling fancy.
The second meal is the full English breakfast (or Irish, Scottish, etc, depending where in the Isles you are), or “fry up”, which is a plate of bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, and vegetables, usually including baked beans.
Canned “baked” beans, of any provenance, are not actually baked, but steamed or cooked during the canning process. As such, most of the recipes I looked just called for cooking on the stove top, although enough called for baking that I included that as an option in the recipe.
British Baked Beans
Serves: 8 or more
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2-2 ½ hours
Total: 2 ½ hours, plus soaking time
2 ¾ cups dry great northern beans
8 cups water
1 teaspoons salt,
2 ¾ Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium yellow onions, diced
OR
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 large carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
OR
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 ½ 14 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
¼ cup ketchup
2 ⅔ Tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock
½ cup water
3 ¼ Tablespoons brown sugar
7 teaspoons white sugar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
5 ⅔ teaspoons cornstarch
¼ cup water
Optional:
4 Tablespoons molasses
4 bay leaves
3 ¾ cups tomato puree, in place of crushed tomato.
Sourdough bread, for beans on toast
Parsley, to garnish.
Pick over beans and remove any broken beans or foreign objects. Cover with several inches of cold water and leave to soak overnight.
Drain beans and place in a large pot with 8 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until beans are just tender 45-90 minutes, depending how old your beans are.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large or heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and sauté for 10-15 minutes, until soft. Add garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes longer until fragrant. (If using onion and garlic powders save them to add with salt and pepper in the next step.)
Add tomatoes, ketchup, tomato paste, stock, water, sugars, Worcestershire, vinegar, pepper and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or so. Transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Return to pot.
When beans are tender, drain and add to sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 50-55 minutes, until sauce is thickened slightly and beans are cooked. Combine cornstarch with ¼ cup cold water and stir to dissolve any lumps. Pour slurry into the beans and stir until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and serve.
OR
Add the cornstarch slurry when you add the beans and bake in a 300F oven for 50-55 minutes.
Lorin cooks Legumes 
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