Baked Beans

This is what happens when you get distracted toward the end of cooking baked beans:

In case you can't tell, that's beans that are burnt onto the bottom of the pot.  There's a lovely smokey aroma filtering through my apartment now, but alas, I cannot post that on my blog.

However, the beans that did not get burnt actually taste pretty good.  They have a smokey flavor to them that I actually like-- almost as if I had added liquid smoke or something.

These started as dried pinto beans-- an ingredient I had never attempted to use before today.  Actually, last night-- I soaked them in water overnight.  This morning I drained, rinsed, and started cooking with some chopped onion and garlic.  After about an hour, I added chopped, cooked ham (the recipe called for bacon, but all my bacon is frozen and besides, ham is healthier), brown sugar, cayenne pepper, Cajun seasonings, and, alas, too much cumin-- it totally overpowered the lovely onion/garlic flavor that was happening.  A little while later I added ketchup, honey, and chopped green pepper.  There was too much water in the pan (I didn't know how much I'd need), so I was in the process of letting it cook down when it got away from me and burned.

BUT!  Virtue has triumphed; the sword of retribution has... wait, nevermind.  Anyway, the salvaged beans look (and taste, and smell) like they'll be pretty good.  Hooray for fiber!