By The book launched Tuesday. The Nashville event Tuesday night was sold out at Parnassus Books with about a hundred and fifty attendees. I read for fifteen minutes from the green-envelope essay and signed for ninety minutes afterward. Mama and Aunt Linda and Roy and Aunt Patty’s family flew in for the event. Dustin’s parents drove up from Memphis. The agent flew in from New York. The room was full of people who’d helped the book reach the shelf, and people who hadn’t been at the writing process but who showed up to support the launch.
Mama cried during the reading. Cody flew up Wednesday morning for the rest of the launch week. The Tulsa event is Wednesday at Magic City Books. The Memphis event is Friday at Burke’s.
Sunday I made baked beans with ground beef as the recovery-Sunday-comfort meal after the launch — the dish is the kind of midwestern comfort food that reads as the right scale for a Sunday after a heavy week, no fuss, fed three people and a toddler with leftovers.
The technique: a pound of ground beef browned in a Dutch oven for ten minutes. Drained. One yellow onion diced and four cloves of garlic minced added; cook five minutes. Two slices of bacon diced and cooked with the beef-and-onion until the bacon fat renders.
The base: two twenty-eight-ounce cans of pork-and-beans (the canned classic; this is one of those recipes where the canned base is the right starting point), drained slightly. A half-cup of dark brown sugar packed, a quarter-cup of ketchup, two tablespoons of yellow mustard, two tablespoons of Worcestershire, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, salt, pepper, a half-teaspoon of cayenne. Stirred together with the beef.
The bake: covered with the Dutch oven lid at three-fifty for forty-five minutes, then uncovered for fifteen more until the top has slightly caramelized.
Served with cornbread on the side. Dustin had two helpings.
Browned beef and bacon base. Pork-and-beans plus brown sugar/ketchup/mustard/Worcestershire. Three-fifty for forty-five covered, fifteen uncovered. Here’s the build.
Baked Beans with Ground Beef
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cans (15 oz each) pork and beans
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or a large oven-safe Dutch oven and set aside.
- Brown the beef. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion together, breaking the meat apart as it cooks, until the beef is no longer pink and the onion is softened, about 8–10 minutes. Drain excess fat.
- Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring to combine everything into a cohesive base.
- Add the beans. Pour all three cans of pork and beans directly into the skillet (do not drain). Stir well to combine with the beef mixture. Taste and season with salt and black pepper as needed.
- Add bacon and transfer. Fold in most of the crumbled bacon, reserving a small handful for topping. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Scatter the reserved bacon over the top.
- Bake. Bake uncovered at 350°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges are bubbling and the top has developed a slightly caramelized crust. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 18g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 720mg