It seems that many of you wandering into the Bean Bible from search engines are looking for information on baked beans. Recipes, presumably. Far be it from me to frustrate our visitors, so I've undertaken a massive project to find out All About Baked Beans.

This article is not, unfortunately, All About Baked Beans. I haven't finished that yet. As part of my research process, however, I'm finding and printing as many different baked bean recipes as I can so that I can eventually analyze them and find out many fascinating things. (Certainly such an analysis would produce many fascinating things, wouldn't it?)

As I find and print them, some are just irresistible. So far the most irresistible ones have been the simple ones that use canned beans and don't require overnight soaking or the quick-soak method (which is still a lot more time-consuming than opening a can). So I find myself getting ahead of the research plan (of course I have a plan!) and making baked beans willy-nilly as fun recipes come to hand.

Here's one that my family and I enjoy every time I make it. It caught my eye because it looked easy and because it has an unusual ingredient: Dr Pepper. Yep, the soft drink. (Use the fully sugared version, not the diet.) I have a half-dozen recipes for Root Beer Baked Beans, too, but something about Dr Pepper Baked Beans tickled my fancy.

Here's the recipe:

Yield: 6 servings

• 1 28-ounce can pork and beans (or two regular-sized 14-ounce cans)
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 green pepper, chopped fine
• 1 tomato, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup Dr
Pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I left these out)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Drain liquid from the pork and beans. Pour beans into a bean pot, if you have one, or a baking dish if you don't. Gently mix in onion, green pepper, and tomato into the beans.

Combine sugar, Dr Pepper, and cloves (if you use them) until sugar is dissolved. Pour evenly over the bean mixture. Bake, covered, for an hour. Check on the beans; they might need a little more time than that, but don't overcook them.

You could successfully substitute ginger ale for the Dr Pepper for a different flavor.

The fresh tomatoes, peppers, and onions give these beans a fresh taste and feel that is simply delightful. The Dr Pepper just mixes itself into the overall sauce; you would never know it's there if someone didn't tell you.

These beans are light and tasty with a fairly liquid sauce. Boston Baked Beans (or other versions of traditional baked beans) are thicker and heavier-which, of course, can be a good thing, too.

For a delightful change of pace, quickly prepared, try Dr Pepper Baked Beans. Oh, by the way, you'll only use a third or so of the can of pop, so have someone on hand who is willing to consume the rest of it. Take volunteers.

Of course, this is not my favorite baked bean recipe, although it is an extremely good one. Click over to The Best Baked Beans in the World to read about and see the recipe for the absolutely finest baked beans known to man.

This article, in slightly different form, appeared previously on my Bean Lovers' site on Suite 101 (it's still there).

Copyright © 2002 Richard Mann. All rights reserved. Please contact the author for permission to use this article (includes reprints in mailing lists, newsletters, and/or any other purpose/format) and give details of its proposed use. Any and all use of this article in any way without permission is prohibited under copyright law. Acceptable use: Please feel free to link to this page. Of course, you can always print these recipes for your own personal use (that's what they're here for).

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