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1
Drain the soaked beans and place them in a heavy pot. Cover generously with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the beans are just tender but retain their shape — a bean pressed between two fingers yields without crumbling.
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2
Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Render the bacon or salt pork lardons in the baking vessel until the fat runs and the edges begin to colour. The smell shifts from raw pork to a clean, smoky fat.
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3
Add the brown sugar or molasses and the mustard to the rendered fat and stir to combine. If using BBQ sauce, add it here. Fold in the drained beans, coating them thoroughly. This is where the dish lives or dies: the ratio of sweet to sharp must be tasted and balanced now, before the long bake sets it — the mixture should read smoky, sweet, and faintly bitter in equal measure.
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4
Add enough reserved cooking liquid to just submerge the beans. Cover the vessel and transfer to a low oven. Bake until the liquid has reduced to a thick, glossy sauce that coats the back of a spoon and the surface of the pot shows the first signs of caramelised edges.
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5
Uncover for the final period of baking. The top layer of beans will darken and the sauce will tighten further. The dish is ready when a spoon drawn across the surface leaves a momentary channel that closes slowly — the sauce is neither soupy nor dry.