Ham Hock's Smokey Goodness

• Taken from a joint in the lower leg of a pig, ham hocks are rich in flavorful gelatin. They're a staple of Southern cuisine, and you can find them in the meat section at most supermarkets. Add one ham hock, beans and enough water in your pot to cover them by an inch. It's OK to leave the ham hock in the beans even after they're done cooking; this allows the ham hock to keep infusing the beans with smokey flavor.

Other Cured Meats

• Any brand or flavor of bacon will help give your beans a smokey flavor, but experiment with varieties such as maple or brown sugar, American-style, Irish or Canadian. Irish and Canadian bacon are sometimes called back bacon. They're leaner than American-style bacon but just as flavorful. To maximize the smokey flavor of bacon, chop it into small pieces. Render the pieces in a skillet over medium heat. Drain or save the bacon fat for other uses. Add the rendered bacon to any bean dish toward the end of its cooking time to get a subtle, smokey flavor. Use this same rendering technique for pancetta, a type of Italian unsmoked bacon; guanciale, a cured Italian pork jowl product; hog jowl, the American equivalent of guanciale; and tasso, a pork product associated with south Louisiana cuisine. Though often sold as tasso ham, it is derived from shoulder butt.

Aromatics, Spices, And Chili Peppers

• Fresh garlic is a universal go-to ingredient prized for the subtle, smokey flavor it gives to soups, stocks, and meat and bean dishes. Steer clear of garlic powder, which occasionally contains salt and flavor enhancers. For smokey spices, try cumin or smoked paprika; when the beans are just about done, add either or both spices in 1/2 teaspoon increments until you attain the desired flavor. Chipotle peppers, available packed in cans in adobo sauce or in dried form, also impart notes of smokiness to beans.

Saffron

• Saffron, the dried aromatic stigmas of the crocus, is associated with dishes like paella, but it does more than bleed its gleaming, orange-yellow color into foods. It also has a smokey flavor that permeates whatever dish you add it to. A tiny pinch is all you need for a whole pot of beans; the higher quality the saffron the less you need to use. Add the saffron directly to the pot of beans and boiling water, stirring to disperse.

Smoked Tea And Smokey Beers

• Lapsang souchong is a China-made tea available in bagged or loose form. Manufacturers smoke black tea leaves over pinewood embers or smoldering pine needles. The resulting flavor of a strong lapsang souchong brew is comparable to Liquid Smoke -- minus the potentially cancer-causing compounds. Grind loose lapsang souchon in a spice grinder and sprinkle a few teaspoons into any bean recipe. Smokey beers, such as porters and stouts, yield flavors of smokey, roasted hops and barley when added to any water in which you're cooking beans. Add splashes of beer to taste when the beans are just about done. Let the beans simmer a while longer, so the alcohol evaporates and the remaining smokey flavor concentrates.