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Gridley's Baked Beans

Subject: Re: Gridley's Bake Beans
From: Tammy
Date: 3/23/2019, 4:06 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 3/23/2019 10:05 AM, Tammy wrote:

Gridley's Bake Beans

Hi Tammy,

Well, you don't give me much to work with, so I'm going to have to guess that you mean the original "Gridley's Barbecue" in Bartlett, Tennessee (outside Memphis), and not the reopened version on Stage Road, and not "Gridley's Lunch Room" in Boston, Massachusetts, and not Gridley's Restaurant in Waterbury, Connecticut, and not any of the other Gridley's Restaurants that may exist around the world. I get requests from everywhere. I need details, like location.

I did a search for the original Gridley's barbecue sauce a couple of years ago. See: 6-19-2017 I had no luck today finding either the sauce or the beans recipe.

I found an old review of the original Gridley's here: My BBQ Blog

That writer says: "The beans Clyde made famous for Gridley’s is a secret recipe but one taste and you can tell that they are laced with curry."

So, if that writer knows what he is talking about, then the beans had curry powder in them.  It's probably a good bet that Gridley's beans had a good dose of Gridley's barbecue sauce in them, too.

This is all that I could find. I'll post this for reader input. Maybe a former employee of the original Gridley's will bless us with the recipes. Clyde Gridley died young, and his actual recipes may not have been passed on.

Phaed

Subject: Can’t find Memphis gridleys barbecue bean recipe
From: Scott
Date: 2/8/2020, 9:03 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 2/7/2020 8:51 PM, scott wrote:

Do you have any ideas? They were spicy but delicious. They had some meat included 
in them. I’ve heard some people say the spice was curry, u could put them in the fridge 
and I would even eat them cold. They were so good, gridleys closed down and I can’t 
find anyone who has the recipe?
Thanks
Scott

Hello Scott,

Sorry, I can't find anything new since my previous searches. See:

4-1-2019

6-19-2017

The meat was chips of Gridley's pork BBQ. I also found the mention of curry powder, so you might try that, although the beans had Gridley's Famous BBQ Sauce in them as well, and I have had no success finding a recipe for the sauce. I doubt if you can duplicate the beans without the sauce.

Phaed

Re: Gridley's BBQ Beans
From: Scott
To: Phaedrus 
Date: 4/24/2025, 8:44 AM

On 4/23/2025 7:08 PM, Scott wrote:

Griddleys  beans . In Memphis. Best I've ever had. Crying shame it went under
I perfected it. Big fan since the one on summer a girl I went to
school with. Showed the seasoning bag . Chili powder lots . Brown
sugar. Taramack. Pickle relish and his signature sauce. Sassy rays
will work. The rest of seasoning is up to u

Hello Scott,

Do you mean "turmeric" rather than "tamarack?" Did you know that the Gridley Family are now bottling and selling the BBQ sauce? They're also working on a way to make a commercial version of the beans. See: Gridley Revival

Also, there is a video of someone making a copycat for the beans here:   Gridley's Beans

Phaed