Out of the Can: Grandma Brown's Baked Beans

Presenting Grandma Brown's Home Baked Beans. That old-timey can with the retro design sure looks innocent enough.

But Grandma Brown's beans slide from the can in a more or less solid mass.

Personally, I am not a fan of Grandma Brown's Home Baked Beans. They're pasty and dense and taste much more like refritos than baked beans to me.

This has got to be a regional thing. Grandma Brown's beans are canned in Mexico, NY, which is north of Syracuse. I know a number of people in upstate NY who love them, but I grew up with the New England style of baked beans, with their looser, saucier consistency and contrasting notes of salty and sweet. (You can find my recipe here.)