can you make baked beans? what ARE they?

[lunavix]

I want to do lilacbumps cowboy hotpot recipe but can't stand baked beans. Could anyone tell me what sort of bean they are? Would it be okay just to lump beans and some chopped tomatoes in?

'Baked beans' are haricot beans.
Homemade baked beans are done in tomato sauce with seasoning, but generally with a touch of treacle / molasses and a little splash of vinegar. and salt. Don't see why you couldn't substitute real haricot beans and toms - just check the seasoning, to compensate for the salt and sugar in b beans.

tomato sauce as in ketchup? or chopped or puree?

I think canellini?
I have a recipe for BBQ beans which uses them I have just looked it up but there aren't any tomatoes in them!

Chopped ot pureed.

I have a recipe for home made baked beans but it does taste fairly much like the tinned stuff, just without all the sugar and salt. Let me know if you want it.

Haricot, cannelini, flageolot, black eye, would all be fine as substitutes, i think.

haricot sounds more like it now I come to think of it!
(thanks blu )

franny - yes that would be good please. There's something about them I can't stand (I must be the only person with a baked bean phobia!) so ds never gets them and dh has about once a month with fryup but he cooks and cleans that!

Home Baked Beans

8 oz dried haricot beans
1 lb tomatoes, skinned and deseeded (I use tinned tomatoes and it is ok, but maybe runnier)
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp mustard powder
3/4 pint hot stock

Soak beans overnight in a large bowl covered with cold water. Drain well, put in saucepan and cover with cold water by at least 2 inches. Bring to the boil. Skin surface, cover pan and cook at rolling boil for 30 mins. Drain well. Preheat oven to GM 2 (sorry forgotten what that converts to). Put beans in a large casserole dish and stir in tomatoes. Mix together tomato puree, molasses, mustard and stock. Pour over beans and mix well. Cover casserole and cook for 2.5 hours (I find takes longer for them to get really tender but could be my oven). Stir gently and cook for another 30 mins or until sauce has thickened.

I freeze them in small portions for ds as I think the shop bought ones are really salty and usually have sugar or sweeteners in them. These have a less artificial taste so you may prefer them.