Hart Stillwell, a frontier novelist, made a rough version of these beans over campfires while on fishing and hunting trips.
The name Hart Stillwell was not familiar to me, so I did a quick tour of the Web to see what I could find out about him. Not much, as it turns out. Amazon.com carries no books by (or about) him. I did, however, find a copy of a fishing article he wrote in the February, 1947, issue of Oudoors Magazine, entitled "They're Either Too Big or Too Small." You can read it, too, if you wish, at http://www.whopperstopper.com/ReadingRoom/55tarpon.htm. (Whopperstopper?)
The Austin Chronicle lists the "Texas 50," which appears to be a list of 50 important books about Texas. It includes The Uncovered Wagon by Hart Stillwell. That list is at http://www.auschron.com/issues/vol18/issue18/books.texas50.side.html.
And that was pretty much all there was about Mr. Stillwell--other than his beans, of course.
The recipe is a fun one, in that it includes items not normally found in run-of-the-mill baked beans, such as strong black coffee and bourbon. You just see the grizzled old frontiersman pouring these he-man substances into his beans to add a little bite to his meal. Oh, by the way, the original directions say that if you like beans less sweet, reduce the amount of brown sugar.
Hart Stillwell's Frontier Baked Beans
- 2 pounds cooked navy beans or other white beans
- 1 1/2 cups tomato juice
- 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar (or less)
- 3/4 cup strong black coffee
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup catsup
- 1/2 cup bourbon
- 4 slices slab bacon, chopped
- 1 carrot, finely grated
- 2 Tablespoons unsulphured dark molasses
- 2 Tablespoons dry mustard
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into a baking dish. Bake the beans, uncovered, about 1 1/2 hours or until they have thickened and cooked down, with a "skin" just beginning to form on the top of the beans. These beans reheat well and will keep in the refrigerator for several days.
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