SERVES 8 – 10

Before she bakes them in an old-fashioned stoneware bean pot, Alabama native Sandy Ivey enlivens her beans with juice from her "under the sink" homemade sweet pickles.

2  28-oz. cans pork and beans
1 1⁄2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1⁄2 cup yellow mustard
1⁄2 cup molasses
1⁄4 cup juice from a jar of sweet dill pickles
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 strips bacon, halved crosswise

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Put the pork and beans, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, molasses, and pickle juice into a large ovenproof pot or bean pot and stir well to combine.

2. Top the bean mixture with onion slices and lay the bacon over the top in a single layer. Bake, uncovered, until the bacon is crisp and the beans are hot and bubbling, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Stir the onions and bacon into the beans before serving.