Bob’s BBQ Bean Stew

This recipe is a summer camp-out favorite invented and distributed by my childhood neighbor, Bob A. I have no idea if he invented it or if found it elsewhere, but it was a staple at our neighborhood parties and dinners in the canyon for years. This is a half-sized recipe, and it will fit in a 5-quart crock pot. The full-size recipe will fill a 9-quart crock pot or slow cooker to the brim and will feed a small army of civilians, or two teenage boys. So, you know, plan accordingly.

Bob’s BBQ Bean Stew

1/2 lb, bacon
1 1/2 lb. stew beef, chopped into 1/2″ cubes
1 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 cups tomato sauce
1/4 – 1/3 cups A1 sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
4 cans beans, drained (I use 1 each of pinto, black, Great Northern, and kidney)

Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy. Spoon the bacon bits out of the frying pan and drain on a paper towel. Brown the stew meat in the bacon grease, it can still be pink in the middle, you just want the outsides to have a nice, lovely sear. Make sure your stew meat is in tiny pieces, you want to be able to fit a piece of meat, some bacon bits, and a few flavors of beans on any given spoonful. 1/2″ is the size of your thumbnail, not the size of your thumb. (Also, don’t cut your thumb off while you are doing such precise measurements. It’ll ruin the stew.)

Dump everything into a crock pot and simmer on high for 3-4 hours.