Have a batch of Norman Conquest's beans going in the Crockpot today. House always smells great when you toast cumin seed and grind it in a mortar and pestle -- and that little puff of oh-so-flavorful cumin smoke fills the kitchen. Thanks again, Randy, for that bottle of Smokey Mo's Hot BBQ Sauce!
Will serve this with rice on the side and some of that Kensco-inspired Lechon Asado as the main event. I will NOT be serving Budwater with this, but a good, honest beer like Lone Star, or mebbe sumpin' from Sam Adams.

quote:

but a good, honest beer like Lone Star, or mebbe sumpin' from Sam Adams.

or Lenenkugel.....

Better stir ya up a batch o flour tortilla dough.

NONE of that store bought junk for honest to goodness Pintos.

quote:

but a good, honest beer like Lone Star,

Bill, you have good taste!


.

Glad you like the beans Amigo.As to the Lone Star beer;the formula from the early 70's in the long necks has changed.Today IOP,the new stuff tastes like Pearl (I/E the sludge of the San Antonio River)What the hell do
I know?,I only live here.P.S Bill I just posted a recipe on the recipes for hunters forum concerning pork sliders;check it out!

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but a good, honest beer like Lone Star

Billl, you have shitty taste in beer.

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Originally posted by Gatogordo:

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but a good, honest beer like Lone Star

Billl, you have shitty taste in beer.

I have never tasted beer but I understand anyone who drinks it has pissy taste!

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I have never tasted beer

That makes you an expert on beer then. You and Bill should get together, "birds of a feather" ya know.

I am not religious by any imagination.

But, I really find the smell of beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks rather unpalatable.

I love to see drunks though!

They do provide us with lots of entertainment

Pinto beans do not need any help. Sort then rinse. Do not soak them. The hard part is finding the correct amount of water. You want just enough water to cover the beans AFTER THEY EXPAND TO THEIR FULL SIZE. Too much water and they won't soften. (I saw that on Good Eats, from the food expert Alton Brown brings on the show, but any real Mexican cook knows not to water down the beans).
Cook for about 2-3 hours till soft then add salt and eat with tortillas and whatever else you want.
I like the flavor of plain, old pinto beans in their broth. They don't need no cover-up tastes, but sometimes I like bean burritos made with cheese, onions, and some salsa, and some simple refried pintos.

Usually the beans that you buy in the store are over 1 year old. They will be more crunchy,especially if you use the regular water (in my case,well water that is high in calcium.) Use bottlded water (I know its a sin but it works)

Yeah, and why waste a day with a crock pot when you can get the same results with a pressure cooker in 45 minutes...Beans, water, fresh cilantro, Oregano, 3 or 6 cloves of garlic, 1/2 pound of salt pork, two sticks of celery to tame the gas, salt, and add a couple of cans of Pace or Herdez chili..use as much or as little as you wish, its all good...add or take out whatever..

Ray,true to a point. Really,if all you want if fast;buy a TV dinner.The aroma of a cooking pot that fills the room is worth the wait. That along with other reasons is why when I have the kids + their families over for Thanksgiving + Christmas,I ALWAYS bake fresh bread. Nothing in this world has the aroma of family love like fresh baked bread.

Norman, under that crusty exterior, you really are a big 'ol softy!

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I ALWAYS bake fresh bread. Nothing in this world has the aroma of family love like fresh baked bread.

I recall some years ago that Real Estate agents asked their sellers to do the same, as it made the selling home very inviting for buyers.

Damn ,Lee,let my guard down for a minute + my cover is blown.

NOrm,
My pressure cooker makes the room stick also, makes the whole house smell like cooking beans and spicies..Sometimes I mix up a pound of elk and a pound of pork in my iron skillet, add two can of Herdez or your favorite chili, lots of fresh crushed garlic, a head of cilantro chopped, an onion, some Lime to mix the flavors, A couple of canned or fresh Jalapeano A spoon of Olive oil, a spoon of cuman; whatever else seems good..let it cook to almost done and dump it in the beans..Let it simmer for an hour..Serve in bowls and eat with crackers or tortillas..I like crackers..Good for several days..

It does make the house smell good. If I were on death row,that's most likely what I wanted for my last meal,providing I was the one that cooked them.

Having grown up on pinto beans, I saw another way of cooking them on TV a couple of weeks ago.

Rather than soak them, or simmering them in water for hours and hours, this method calls for browning a couple strips of bacon (chopped of course), caramelizing half an onion, and then putting the beans in the bacon fat and letting them cook until the hull starts to wrinkle. Then add a cup of chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste, and let them simmer until tender.

Absolutely delicious and shaves quite a bit of time off the cooking.

BH63

A great thing about Randy's pintos is that they freeze exceptionally well. Just thawed a pint last night to go with some of my pork shoulder Mississippi Roast. Absolutely delicious.

Bill,when you're happy,I feel my day is complete.Enjoy the beans Amigo.

Randy, best side I have ever had. Period

Bill,yes they do freeze well;so do the buttermilk pies.As to the pies,you can take them out of the freezer + in 20 minutes you are ready to slice;+ all the flavor is retained.As to the beans;Hell,you can't make a small batch anymore than you can do gumbo.I don't cook big batches of anything anymore since the kids have grown + gone but the beans are always a good party hit.And as you say,+ I concur,the left overs are grand.

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Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

but a good, honest beer like Lone Star,

Bill, you have good taste!


.

+1

Lane,I can't remember who,but someone bought them out + the recipe changed. I used to drink Lone Star all the time in the 70's;in fact my friend Jim Franklin the artist did all the Lone Star /Armadillo posters.However the beer does not taste the same anymore.Let us also forget about Pearl;that one is flavored by dead mexicans thrown into the river walk.

Beans. Enough Orrington Farms Beef or Ham broth to cover beans. 4 slices of uncured bacon. Couple of spoonfuls of sliced japapeno pepper. Slow cook on high for two hours, add more broth to cover beans as needed. Slow cook on low for 4 hours. Sometimes, I add jalapeno sausage or ham an hour or so before the beans are done.

Plate of cornbread. Saltine crackers are good too.

My favorite thing in the world.

And, there is no way that Lone Star Beer could ever taste like Pearl. Nothing tastes like Pearl.

It is pretty nasty,is'nt it?

Pearl? Is that a beer?
Made another pot of "Randy's Pintos" to freeze. I am stockpiling chow so as not to starve after upcoming back surgery.

Randy I got into the pressure cooker by geographical altitude in elk camp in Idaho, You can't cook beans in a pot unless you have a week or two..but with the pressure cooker you had the tent smelling like beans during the day and like gas all night..I can cook a pot of beans with lots of brown goodness soup juice with the cooker..Its awesome..My boys even use the cooker in Texas and the croc from Juarez sits on top of their fridge for decoration..Don't hate me for this,please! I know its unTexan as hell!!

No worries Ray. My beans are killer /diller.Good hunting wishes.Looking forward to dinner when you make your way down.Best,Randy.

Some recipes are sacred in my family and came west late 1700/early 1800 as indentured servants, by word of mouth, from the east coast and from slaves and slavers in Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Virginia ...corn bread...NO SUGAR, Pinto beans, sour dough breads and pancakes, hole hog BBQ, certain sauces and whiskey making.(beer making also but no one talks of that nasty stuff)

My Momma started me out when I was old enough to look over the stove and see the fire under the pot and I've been making beans ever since. Those recipes will die with me because my kids only know McDonald's and Denny's and could care less about the good things in life unless it's on Twitter or some other POS Social network.

I make a pot of beans and iron skillet cornbread at least once a month...more often in the winter because it takes a bit of time to do them both properly and I'm too flighty when the sun is out...gotta go kill something.

My sour dough starter has been with me for almost 40 years...my ex-wife killed a started my mother gave my wife as a wedding gift that was started when my mother got married and it came from my grandma from grampa's side as a wedding gift for them...the story goes it came across in a Prairie schooner wrapped in a comforter and held the whole way by some kinfolks wife. It seems a miracle that both survived. That same starter has been in the family for who knows how long. Most of the kith and kin in Georges, Texas and Colorado still have some of that original sponge.

Some recipes are meant to pass along and some are meant to keep quiet about. My recipes are nothing special except to me...I've seen dozens of bean recipes that come close...they are all basic to what was available to use then and now...just throw a handful or two in the pot in the morning add a little water or broth and turn the fire down low...check now and then and if it sticks it just makes it a bit chewier.

Good Eat'n'

Bill,sorry to hear about your upcoming back surgery.How long will you be laid up? This getting old isn't for the timid is it?Hope the beans see you through;do you need another bottle of Mo's BBQ sauce? Just let me know + I'll send one your way.

You will feel better after the back surgery Im betting..it sure worked on me two years ago..

My granddad was a Texas Ranger on the Nueses strip Mexican border..The rode horseback from Laredo to El Paso, about 800 miles as I recall and the lived on salt pork, boiled it two or three times and ate it, the rest was shot game and mostly coffee, man they had to be tough..Pistol handles were scuffed up pretty bad from pounding coffee beans..pinto bean were the other supliment the replace when they could..He used to fix me fried salt pork (pre boiled) and eggs and sour milk and cornbread mixed..I loved it with him there eating breakfast with me, I was about 5 or 6 I recon..He was my hero, still is for that matter even though he pass in the late 1940s. We always had a pot of beans on the stove and still do, If company shows up we put some more water in the beans..

Fond memories Ray. I still recall sitting with my Grandfather + we would have torn up pieces of bread in a bowl of milk, highly peppered. Sometimes sardines. He was born in the late 1800s + still ate like it was still the depression.

Made another pot of Randy's beans and put three pints in the freezer.
Back surgery went as good as expected, but very little pain relief, so I am starting on gabapentin. Hope it works. I like to hike.
You guys were lucky to know your grandfathers.
Both of mine died before I was born. Dad's dad sold Arbuckle Coffee when first out of college, but then set up shop as a surveyor and civil engineer in southern Oregon.
Mom's dad ranched in the Tonto Basin of Arizona until about 1925, then built houses in Winslow, then in southern Oregon until the Depression. He died of cancer about 1936.

bILL, GLAD TO HEAR YOU'RE doing better. I am beat. Last night I took Linda over to the Mother's retirement village.
She called me at 3:30 A.M to tell me she passed so I went to pick her up from the center (whop should sleep there?) This really sucks but it is real.

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y

This day has been a terror as you can imagine

Bill, I am in a very strange state of mind here concerning Linda + her mother's demise. I will do everything that needs to be done. As to the folks that want their payments, etc, from Marty, I say the same thing from the scabs that want a slice of me. Fuck Em!

damn. i hope it gets better for you sooner rather than later.

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Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Made another pot of Randy's beans and put three pints in the freezer.
Back surgery went as good as expected, but very little pain relief, so I am starting on gabapentin. Hope it works. I like to hike.
You guys were lucky to know your grandfathers.
Both of mine died before I was born. Dad's dad sold Arbuckle Coffee when first out of college, but then set up shop as a surveyor and civil engineer in southern Oregon.
Mom's dad ranched in the Tonto Basin of Arizona until about 1925, then built houses in Winslow, then in southern Oregon until the Depression. He died of cancer about 1936.

back surgery suks. had mine in 2010. degenerative disc disease and just plain old worn out. i am good for 2-3 hard hours in the AM then on ice paks for 2-3 hours. don't try to tough it out and stop taking the meds too soon. that will bite you in the ass big time.