It’s not often that I open a tin of baked beans – Heinz if you must know. I hardly grew up with them even though every Sunday morning, my mother would cook an English breakfast for us. Not a full English but…shall I call it a general English? Fried eggs, bacon (English back bacon when Marks and Spencers was still around in Vancouver), toast, and only very very occasionally, baked beans. This last was mostly for my father who seemed to like them; actually, I think he was the only one who ate them back then. Later on, my mother would doctor the usual tomato sauce with a few extra ingredients to make them more palatable to her. Nowadays, I do the same. Last weekend, a craving hit and I had them on toast.
More Palatable Baked Beans
A tin of baked beans (the kind in tomato sauce – I buy Heinz)
A small chopped onion or a few chopped shallots
Bacon, any kind, chopped
Olive oil
Chili sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
Fry the onion and bacon in some olive oil (~ 2 tbsps) until the onion is turning golden and the bacon is cooked through. Stir in the beans and add a couple of good shakes of chili sauce. I’m currently on a bottle of Yeo’s Hot Chilli Sauce and next in the queue is a bottle of Lingham’s. A few grinds of black pepper and the whole thing is ready when heated through.
Serve on toast or as part of a general English breakfast.
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that there’s no bacon in the beans in the photo. I ran out. Boo.
Fri, 13 Mar, 2009 at 09:59
Amazing photograph… but I have to question your dedication. You have an English Breakfast (Bacon, Eggs, Tomato, Beans, Sausage, Toast and Bread, Mushrooms and, if Northern, Black Pudding) or you’re having Bacon, Eggs and Sausage..
Chilli in with your beans is always a good move but if you mix that in with a little HP you’d be truly set.
Your picture has done enough, I’m going to go make some.
Thu, 28 May, 2009 at 14:28
“Not a full English but…shall I call it a general English?”
i like the idea of a “partial English breakfast”. might start using that for anything that falls short of a full English.
Tue, 9 Jun, 2009 at 14:33
premierbakedbeanbrand: I refuse to eat fried bread ever again…so it’s likely that I’ll never eat a proper full English ever again! Might have to try that HP idea!
tomasz: Partial English it is!
Fri, 19 Mar, 2010 at 23:38
[...] For brunch last weekend, I set the eggs on top of baked beans, not just any baked beans but some doctored up ones – this time with chorizo and onion. Thanks to the dish’s tinned beginnings too, [...]
Tue, 3 Aug, 2010 at 01:47
I’ve eaten and never tired of eating beans on toast since I was a kid during the last war. As far as I recall they weren’t on ration, but the local grocer had a regular small delivery along with other canned food, so first come first served if you were out to the shops around 9 am. These days I improve the taste by adding a dash of salt, a small dash of dark soy sauce and a fine small sprinkling of garlic granules.
Result . . . a quick, cheap to make dish that tastes absolutely wonderful. Yes, they must be Heinz Beans every time.
Ken, Ealing now age 75.
Mon, 9 Aug, 2010 at 18:29
Ken Bristow: Thank you so much for dropping by (you actually live not far from me in West London). I’m going to have to try your method of pepping them up!
Fri, 11 Feb, 2011 at 20:36
Hello Su Lin
Nice to hear there’s another Heinz Beans fan in west London. I actually live in Ealing. Re the improved taste . . . it’s the garlic that does it!
Sun, 21 Aug, 2011 at 04:36
Yummy. One of my favourite quick dishes. Just found your blog Su-Lin and it’s making me hungry.
I quite often put French’s mustard in with my baked beans. Also experimented with spreading Marmite and butter on the toast before adding the beans, plus lots of cracked black pepper. I also do that to toast before adding fried tomatoes to the toast.
Chipotle Tabasco is also a good add-in.
Am currently experimenting with my bean brands – Crosse & Blackwell are pretty good. 4 for a pound at Iceland.