Maple, Molasses and Beer Bean Pot

I finally delivered on the bean pot I've been talking about for three days! Boy was this a good recipe. Anything that takes a few hours to prepare and an additional 3 hours to cook should be good. These beans did not disappoint. For me, the most impressive aspect of this recipe is that it calls for such high quality, organic ingredients. Pure pressed apple cider and pure maple syrup, just to name a few. The most interesting part of the preparation was taking dry chipotle peppers and steeping them for 30 minutes in boiling water. I guess you can say it made a chipotle tea of sorts. This process definitely extracted maximum flavor. Both the chipotle water and finely chopped chipotles were then added to the bean pot. I will just cut to the chase and post the recipe. This is one to file away for a potluck or for a barbecue because it serves 12.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans

2 cups dried white beans

2 cups red kidney beans

2 dried chipotle peppers

1 lb double-smoked bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces

2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp ground cumin

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup pure apple cider

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 Tbsp blackstrap molasses

2 bottles (each 12 ounces) local dark beer

salt and freshly cracked black pepper

In a large bowl, combine black, white and red beans with 14 cups of water and let soak overnight. Drain and rinse. In a large pot, combine beans with 8 cups of salted water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until beans are softened, about 40 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine chipotle with 1 cup of boiling water and let steep for 30 minutes. Remove chilies from water, reserving water, and finely chop. Set aside.

In the same large pot, saute bacon over medium-high heat until browned and crisp, about 7 minutes. Add onions and saute until softened, about 15 minutes. Stir in beans, chipotles, chipotle water, garlic, cayenne and cumin. Reduce heat to medium and add brown sugar, cider, maple syrup, molasses and beer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are very tender, about 3 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.