The Best I Ever Had: Cowboy Beans Recipe Revised

I recently made some adjustment to the original recipe that, I think, resulted in better flavor - and decreased the cost of the meal. The primary adjustment is to remove the beer. I'm sure that some food chemist can tell me why less flavor in yields more flavor out but I don't know why. Obviously there were dueling flavors that cancelled each the other.

Also known as Ranch Style Beans or Texas Style Pinto Beans, among other things, they can be cooked in a large crock pot or in a dutch oven on the stove, in the oven, over the coals, or on the smoker. If you cook them in an earthenware pot over live coals like they do in Mexico and New Mexico, then you can call them Frijoles de Olla (beans of the pot). If you are reading this you probably already know all of the cool hot things you can do with these beans but they are probably at their best served with smoked brisket, sausage and ribs; cole slaw, fresh raw jalapeños, sliced onion, cornbread, and Shiner Bock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 cups of dried pinto beans

6 cloves of garlic (diced or crushed)

3 whole dried Chipotle peppers

3 slices Benton's Bacon (approximately 1/4 lb.)

1 medium onion (chopped)

2 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp Mexican oregano

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Water enough to keep covered

3 tsp organic vegetable base ("Better Than Bouillon")

1 tsp organic beef base ("Better Than Bouillon")

 

Sort the beans on a white towel to remove stones and flawed beans, rinse well, cover at least an inch deep in high quality water in an inert bowl (not metal or painted pottery), and soak overnight.

 

Brown the Benton's Bacon which is very lean and smoky and considered by many to be the best bacon in the world, and pour off most of the fat, then sauté the onions, deglaze the skillet, and add all but the bacon and the vegetable and beef base to the pot with the beans.  Some folks like to pour off the water that the beans were soaked in and others like to preserve the flavor and nutrients in that water and use it to cook the beans.  The beans will be good no matter.

 

Start them on high for a few minutes and then low for the duration.  On the stove you can have them ready in a few hours, in the crock pot in a half day, and on the fire you best stay tuned. After two hours taste the broth and decide whether to remove the Chipotle peppers. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the bacon and the vegetable and beef base and adjust the seasoning to taste. You have no doubt notice that no salt has been added to this point, and the vegetable and beef base usually takes care of that.

 

We find the Benton's Bacon locally at Food Matters Market (buy it by the slice) and I'm sure that it is also available at Greenlife Grocer, Whole Foods, Earthfare, etc. You can order it direct from the farm in Madisonville, Tennessee.

 

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