A Pot of Beans

The day started with me spending about an hour swatting spam comments on Ye Olde Blog (frakking bustards), then boiling rice and chopped meat (not for personal consumption; it seems that New Dog had come with, and now has passed to Old Dog, um, "digestive issues"!). Now, I've cleaned the fish tank, I am ready to get cleaned up, finish one military history, maybe start another.

In the meantime, I put on a pot of beans.

The recipe comes from The El Paso Chili Company's Texas Border Cookbook (W. Park Kerr and Norma Kerr). This is one of those cookbooks that I will probably wear out, it has a number of dishes that I make again and again. Their pot beans (Frijoles de Olla) is a favorite that leads to other dishes such as Well-Fried Beans (Frijoles Refritos) as well as being put into various pots of chili.

The author's point out that this is comfort food on several levels. The cooking process is long, but relaxes you. It's nice to know you've got a pot simmering, or waiting for you in the refrigerator. And it is nice to make a batch of frijoles refritos, put them into tortillas with some cheese and maybe some meat, freeze them, and bring them to work for several months afterwards.

Good eats!

I'd love to visit this restaurant. Several times. The cookbook, as I said, is excellent. The only problem I've found is that living in the nether regions, I often have to send away for ingredients or substitute. Things are getting easier, but you still occasionally run across something that causes you to scratch your head.

2 pounds dried pinto beans, picked over carefully.
About 3 quarts of water.
1/3 pound bacon, diced.
1 medium onion, diced.
2 to 3 dried red chili pods (rinsed, stemmed, seeded and chopped).
3 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped).
3 teaspoons of salt.

Pick over the beans carefully. Put in pot, fill with cold water, and let sit for five minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Repeat this process two more times.

In a tall pot (you want tall rather than wide, so you can get about four inches of water above your ingredients) place the beans, bacon, onion and chilis. Cover with water, bring almost to a boil, and then simmer for about two hours, stirring occasionally.

Add the salt after two hours and simmer until the beans are tender and the cooking liquid is thick and creamy. This will take at least an additional hour, probably more (depending on your water, the age of the beans, the altitude of your living space).

Check the seasoning. Serve the beans warm, cooled, in a tortilla with salsa and Pico de Gallo. Use leftovers (and there will be plenty!) in tortillas as frijoles refritos or in chili or in...

I've used bacon as well as fatback in this dish. I'm finding it harder, strangely enough, to find just plain old bacon. It seems that there's been some law passed, locally, to smoke it with maple flavoring, hickory flavoring and the like. Sigh.

Posted by Fred Kiesche at May 26, 2008 08:36 AM