What to do with Leftover Baked Beans.

I don’t know how many of you have the problem of what to do with leftover baked beans, but in case the idea of simply serving them under a poached egg is not interesting enough, I have some suggestions from The cook book of left-overs: a collection of 400 reliable recipes for the practical housekeeper (1911) by Helen Carroll Clarke and Phoebe Deyo Rulon.

First, a rather prosaic idea that may then leave you with the problem of what to do with leftover bean and tomato puree:

Baked-Bean and Tomato Puree

2 cups baked beans

1 onion, sliced

2 cups cold water

1 pint stewed and strained tomato

I tablespoonful flour

Sugar, salt, and pepper to taste

Cook beans and onion in water until very soft. Strain. To one cup of thick bean pulp add tomato and seasoning. Thicken with the flour mixed smooth in two tablespoonfuls of water. Boil well after adding flour. If too thick, hot water may be added.

And a salad, if you are not averse to cold beans:

Baked-Bean Salad.

Drain the liquid from baked beans, season more highly, and add a little chopped cucumber pickle. Serve in a bed of lettuce-leaves, dressing with mayonnaise. This salad may be the principal dish for a winter luncheon, as it has much food value.

This sounds good – but is only possible if you have made your own baked beans in the first place:

A Good Way to Warm Over Baked Beans.

Put into a hot frying-pan some of the pork cooked with the beans. When the fat has melted and is hot, pour in the beans, cover, and set pan back on stove where beans will cook slowly and brown underneath. Fold over like an omelet, turn out on a hot platter and serve with savory tomato sauce, or tomato catsup. Garnish dish with parsley.

And finally, my favourite – Bean Rarebit, which as we all know, should be Bean Rabbit (see here and here.)

Baked-Bean Rarebit.

1 cup grated cheese

1 tablespoonful butter

1 cup milk

I cup baked beans, mashed

1 egg slightly beaten

A little salt and mixed mustard

Slices of Boston brown bread toast

Have the toast ready and hot. Cook in a saucepan, or chafing-dish over hot water. Melt

the cheese in the hot butter. Add the seasoning and then the milk gradually, stirring until perfectly smooth. Then add the mashed beans and slightly beaten egg. Pour at once over the hot toast.