Hawaiian Baked Beans

I'm trying to figure out why so few of the recipes I looked at used Spam.  To me, that and pineapple are the definition of Hawaiian savory dishes.  This is a recipe for sweet and sour baked beans with Spam.  Just getting that out of the way, so there are no surprises.

It's been years since I've bought Spam, so I didn't realize it was on the list of things people were hoarding.  The beans were already soaking while I was at the market, so I was kind of committed to this recipe.  They had a few cans of the reduced sodium version.  I never have a problem with that, as I'm perfectly capable of adding salt when necessary.  There was still plenty of salt in it and I only added a touch to the beans.

So anyway, if you're one of the people who bought a whole bunch of dry beans and Spam in March, here's something to do with them.

1 C dry Navy beans
*1/2 C diced sweet onion (Maui if you can find it)
salt and pepper to taste
*1 C canned pineapple chunks in juice
1/2 C ketchup
1 Tb apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 Tb brown sugar
1 can Spam

1.  Sort and rinse beans.  Soak for 8 hours or overnight.

2.  Preheat oven to 250º.  Drain beans and place in a 2 quart casserole with the diced onion and a touch of salt.  Add 3 C boiling water, cover, and bake for 2 hours.

3.  Dice half the can of Spam the same size as the beans.  Add diced Spam and remaining ingredients, stirring until the ketchup is evenly mixed.  If too dry, add a little water, just enough to barely reach the top beans.  Cover again and bake another two hours.

4.  If beans are too soupy, remove lid and leave in the oven while you do the next step.  Slice remaining Spam and pan fry until browned.  Slice and top each serving of beans with strips of Spam. (Cilantro is optional.  I like it and happened to have some on hand.)

Difficulty rating  :)