Boomers May Remember This Old-School Betty Crocker Casserole With An Unusual Topping

Who else among us learned to cook with that quintessential boomer tool, the recipe box? In the 1970s, one popular retail recipe box came from Betty Crocker. Olive-green and compact, it was bursting with what are now delightfully retro recipes. This was a bit after two-ingredient Bisquick noodles made their mark in the annals of Betty Crocker history, but the box still contained meals that combined convenience foods and fresh ingredients for relatable weeknight fare. Boomers might remember one particular card that sounds a little outlandish to modern sensibilities but is probably more delicious than the name lets on. It's Apple Orchard Bean Bake, which takes meaty baked beans and tops them with an unexpected addition: apples and brown sugar.

Topping baked beans with apples might take you aback, but it's actually part of New England culinary canon. We're no stranger to doctoring baked beans (we particularly enjoy adding Dr Pepper to the pot for sweet stickiness), but we never thought to mix in apples. Betty's recipe combines canned beans with browned hot sausage, the heat of which provides a savory contrast to the sweetness of the Granny Smith apples and the sugar, which are baked on top. 

The resulting dish isn't the most attractive thing to behold, but it has a certain appeal even on the opposite side of the screen. One can almost inhale the perfume of the apples and imagine the hearty mouthfeel of the beans and sausage giving way to the residual crispness of the baked apples. Delving into the web, it seems like tons of variations on bean and apple casseroles exist, all with some tasty variations.

Although Betty Crocker used hot sausage in its baked beans, we've also seen apple-bean bake paired with bacon, brisket, or even hot dogs! In terms of the apples, some folks prefer to dice the fruit into itty-bitty pieces that we imagine would melt into the final concoction after a stint in the oven. Instead of incorporating brown sugar, some use canned apple pie filling, which would already be long on syrupy consistency and abundant sweetness. Want the apple flavor, but not the chunks of fruit in your beans? How about a generous helping of applesauce? We think the cinnamon kind would be especially enjoyable here.

Nor are beans, meat, and apples the only inclusions worthy of this dish. Sweet onions are a natural complement to the flavor profile that many people would probably enjoy, along with some cooked-down diced red bell pepper. The sauce might also receive an extra savory kick (to counteract all that sweetness) from some Worcestershire, yellow mustard, and/or your favorite hot sauce. Want to use less sugar but add sweetness with character? We'd recommend barbecue sauce, with or without a shot of hot honey. Betty Crocker's Apple Orchard Bean Bake is undeniably old-school, but we can't imagine why it wouldn't slap on contemporary dinner tables. It's protein-packed, belly-filling, and ripe for experimentation so that a 2020s cook can really make it their own.