This recipe makes a nice, mild barbecued bean dish that goes well with any backyard cookout or camping getaway. I don’t call it a copy cat recipe but it tastes very similar to a well-known canned barbecued beans. When I made this dish I started out using 2/3 cup of Tony Roma barbecue sauce. On tasting, I wanted to add a bit more sauce but that bottle was empty. I finished using 1/3 additional cup of KC Masterpiece Original. I liked the combination better I think than I would have either alone.

• 1 pound dried navy beans
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper to taste

• 1/2 pound salt pork
• 1 cup prepared BBQ sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon chicken base

1. Sort and cull dried beans. Rinse well. In a bowl with lid, cover with 2 inches cold water. Allow to soak a minimm of 4 hours but over nght in the refrigerator is best.
2. Fine dice onion and set aside. Coarsely dice salt pork. Cook in frying pan until about half of the fat is rendered. Drain fat and discard. Add onions and cook until onions are soft and transparent. Set aside.
3. Drain beans. Put beans in Aircore Dutch oven and add water to cover 2 inches. Heat over medium heat until boiliing. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes, stirring ocasionally.
4. Drain beans. Add fresh water to cover by 1/2 inch. Add reserved salt pork and onion mixture and all remaining ingredients. Stir to mix well. Heat over medium heat until boiling, cover with glass lid, reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 15 minutes, stir often.
5. Cover with outer metal lid. When indcator reaches top of the red arc, remove from heat. Allow to self cook until indicator is in the middle of the yellow arc, about 4 hours. If using the cozy, self cooking will continue for about 8 hours.