Image of Party Beans

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried pinto beans
  • 1 strip bacon, chopped
  • 1/4 package salt pork (can substitute pork belly or extra bacon)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 Roma tomato
  • 1/4 white onion, diced
  • 1 fresh jalapeño, pierced with a fork
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 T SPG (Salt, pepper, garlic)
  • 1 tsp SPG
  • 1/4 cup tomato sauce

Steps

  1. Place the beans in a colander, rinse well, and remove any stones or shriveled beans.
  2. Pour the beans into a pot. Cover with water by about 1-2”
  3. Bring the beans to a slow simmer. Do not cook at a rolling boil. This should be gentle. Cook for 30 minutes.
  4. Add 1T SPG. Add water if necessary to keep beans just covered. Cook for 30 minutes.
  5. Check water and add until beans are just covered. Cook 60 minutes.
  6. At 2 Hours, add whole jalapeño to pot
  7. Fry bacon in skillet. Once mostly cooked, add onion. Once onion is mostly cooked, add garlic, cumin and 2 tsp SPG.
  8. Add tomato to skillet and use moisture to scrape up fond. Add tomato sauce to skillet and cook a few minutes. Add half of chopped cilantro to skillet and cook briefly.
  9. Dump skillet contents into beans. Loosen any fond with bean water and dump in pot
  10. Simmer beans an additional 30-60 minutes until beans are cooked
  11. 10 minutes prior to serving, add remaining cilantro.
  12. Adjust salt to taste and serve.

Notes

  • This recipe is easily doubled to feed a large crowd
  • Leftover beans can be smashed into refried beans
  • Always use fresh dried beans, as old beans can take much longer to become tender (and may possibly never soften!)