BAKED BEANS, KENTUCKY STYLE (Like the Original Colonel’s)
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 129). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
I could never find another good recipe for baked beans like the Col. offered when he first began his chain of fried chicken restaurants. Unfortunately, when KFC was purchased from Harland Sanders by Jack C Massey in 1974 (who sold it to Heublein Inc. 7 years later), the recipe changed over the years. This is my version of the original…
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup light vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons light molasses
5 cups cooked, drained Navy beans
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons sweet pickle juice
3 tablespoons bacon drippings
6 strips bacon, fried crispy and crumbled
4 tablespoons Grape-Nuts cereal
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. Bring to boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and add butter and molasses, stirring just to blend. Place beans in an 8-cup baking dish. Pour cooked mixture over them and stir to blend. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into bean mixture. Cover and bake just to heat thoroughly in a 350°F oven, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serves 6. Very good reheated the 2nd day!
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