Yes, I mean it. It's what we had for lunch yesterday. I don't remember ever before buying cans of haricots blancs à la tomate, but now I know they are delicious. And nutritious. Look at the label on the can. It says these beans rate a nutri-score of A and are riches en protéines. The ingredients are eau, haricots blancs trempés, concentré de tomates, huile de colza, sel, sucre, et arôme naturel. A large-size can of plain white beans sells for 1.02 euros at Intermarché here in Saint-Aignan. A large-size of white beans with tomato paste in them goes for 1.12 euros. Both are a bargain.
I don't know about you, but in North Carolina I grew up eating what we called "pork and beans" out of cans. My mother also cooked a lot of dried beans as well. I posted about them a couple of weeks ago. White beans are the basis for the French specialty called un cassoulet, which is white beans cooked with duck, lamb, and/or pork or pork sausages (saucisses de Toulouse).
Yesterday, I didn't take the time to make an actual cassoulet. I also wouldn't call what I made Boston baked beans, because I didn't put molasses in it. I did add some spices and some other flavoring ingredients including Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and maple syrup (but not too much). What we had was just pork and beans. They cooked for about 90 minutes. And were delicious.
We have four tins of the Sainted Eeeeloi "Baked bean substitute" in the larder at any one time.... can't live without the comfort food... especially in winter!
ReplyDeleteFor me, a teaspoon of Black Treacle, a teaspoon of Coleman's Superfine Mustard and a small onion sliced and caramelised gives me something very close to the Boston Baked Beans I have been cooking since the seventies [Delia Smith's "Frugal Food"] without all the phaff
and....
open the tin, pour into a microwaveable dish and stir in a generous servingspoonful of Heinz Tomato Ketchup and it is then a pretty close match for Heinz Baked Beans [I know because I pigged out and ate them side by side from the cans when trying to catch the flavour]
And talking of cold from the can, apart from normal Heinz Baked Beans, there were two that we ate...
Heinz Baked Beans with Sausages [with eight little skinless sausage-alikes]
as well as Heinz London Grill or All Day Breakfast [which I think was from Campbells]....
The latter had little four egg balls, strips of belly slice bacon and sausages with skins [four of them, too] and nuggets of kidney [I don't think the Heinz version had the egg balls] otherwise they were pretty much the same...
Ahh, memories... not had them for ages!!
I'm so glad that you found that you love these!
ReplyDeletewhat a great discovery!
ReplyDeleteIt’s great to find something we really like that’s also a great price.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
Nutri-score - is it the same in French and English?
ReplyDeleteBaked beans on toast was not only an easy meal but a real treat when I was a kid. I still love them.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried these beans and wonder how they compare with the baked beans we get in the UK. Nowadays we buy Aldi home brand at around 50p a tin.