There they are, cans of ‘food’. You know the ones, I’m talking about. Those cans that just don’t get used. Those bastard cans you have to move out of your way every time you reach for the pasta, tomatoes or what-have-you. This week my wife had enough of it and as I pushed the cans of beans out of the way so I could get some fresh dried beans (I planned to soak them over night) she said, “use these you foo!” In my mind I cringed, canned beans? Simmered for hours? Wretch.
The ‘clear’ decision was to use the canned beans for my concoction.

To tell you the truth I wasn’t expecting much out of this pot. I did have some great ingredients though, a Fatted Calf Smoked Ham Hock, fresh Andouille sausages from a butcher at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, really fancy smoked sweet Spanish Paprika and some awesome dried herbies.
I couldn’t have been more wronger. This pot of beans was easily one of the best ever, no kidding. It was really easy to make too, it only took 2 hours or so.What you’ll need is a load of cans full of beans. You choose the kind, you can see clearly what I used. You’ll need a large pot, I hope that was obvious.
1 Onion – Yellow or White – diced
4 tbls (at least) of the Spanish sweet smoked paprika
2 tbls of good Mexican oregano
1 large smoked ham hock
2 large andouille sausages
Maybe a pint or two of really good natural beef broth
About half a bulb of galic diced

Don’t worry about meat amounts, I don’t believe you could have too much. But don’t skimp either, the spicy & smokey meat is where this pot gets a lot of its flavor action.
In the two above pictures you can see pretty well how much of everything was added. Notice the liquid level. That is how much of the broth you add. Notice the ingredient level, add that much.

Here you are after two hours of simmer WITHOUT the lid. When I say “simmer”, I mean there should be bubbles bubling over the entire surface of the liquid. Maybe medium low, or so. It is really important to give enough heat to render out the flavor of the Hock and reduce the liquid down a bit. You got it?
One might think there is too much liquid there, no there isn’t. That is the correct amount. You know why? Because you will need some ‘broth’ to soak in to a bowl of your favorite rice, that’s why. And that is how this is served, kinda like a Red Beans & Rice situation. This and a green salad and you’re a happy person for hours and in this case, most of the week.
As far as variations for this? It’s beens for crissakes, do what you want. My point was the canned beans working VERY well for simmered bean dishes, the smokey sweet paprika & the smokey meats. Other than that, go for it. Diced green bell peppers would have been nice … hey, you know what would have really dialed this in? I give credit to Jim back on the East Coast for this, fry up your favorite bacon and crumble it over your completed bean bowl. That right there would have been the piece of resistence. GAWNASH !!!
Xo Xo