Five Star Pinto Beans

Alright, I'll give up this one. Not many people are allowed access to my award winning bean recipe, but I'm feeling in the Christmas spirit, so here goes:

Ingredients:

2lb pinto beans
1/3 lb of fat back, cubed
1/3 lb of smoked bacon, diced into large chuncks
1 white or sweet onion course chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp salt and pepper
2 tbsp sugar
1 TEASPOON of liquid smoke
1 beef boulion cube
1 jalepeno, halfed, de-seeded







Prepare all ingredients as listed. Here is the most important part: SOAK BEANS IN ROOM TEMPERATURE TAP WATER FOR TWO DAYS . DRAIN AND RINSE BEANS TWICE A DAY.

Heat cast iron pot to medium temp. and toss in bacon and fat back. Saute until bacon turns transparent, then add in garlic and onion and sweat:


After onions and garlic cook down, toss in your drained and cleaned beans. Roll the beans around in the bacon grease for about 2 minutes...this is important:


Next, add water to cover 1 inch over beans and remaining ingredients, bring to a medium boil:


Boil for about 35-40 minutes, then turn heat down to low, allow to slow simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Taste for desired texture. Once the beans are just *slightly* firmer than you like, TURN OFF THE DAMN HEAT! Then cover and let rest.



Now, if you win any trophies, medals or money off of this recipe, you must forward 99% of it to me. Thats the deal ok? I hope some of ya'll try this one out. They taste more like Wrangler/Chuck Wagon beans than mexican pintos. My family said they are the best I make. I'd love to hear ANY feedback.

WARNING: For whatever reason..these are some serious "tootin" beans....I'll leave it at that.

those look good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for giving it up!! I have never been good at cooking beans!! This should help fix that!!

Sounds good!!! I like more than one jalapeno in two pounds of beans. I like cilantro, but some people don't. The solution to both is to serve pico-de-gio (sp) on the side.

Looks awesome. When you boil for about 35-40 minutes, then turn heat down to low, allow to slow simmer for 1 1/2 hours do you do this uncovered?

Those look delicious. Thanks for sharing that with us. Uh, are you sayin don't light a match in the room, when your eating these?

I will definitely try this receipe.

I thought the point of soaking was to get rid of the tootin?

Nope! It gets the husk off the bean and opens up the bean for more flavor.



Great question. I boil AND simmer it covered!

Gonna make these this week. When do you add the jalapeno?

Read the step right after turning the beans in the grease:



There ya go!

oops

Where do I find fatback? Didn't see any at walmart...

Well, I get it at HEB in the bacon section. Or you can run down to your local butcher and have him cut you a small piece. If worse comes to worse, you could use a ham hock, just cut meat off the bone.

Thanks for the recipe.I sure do love those ceramic coated cast iron pots.Hmmm i think i will make that on Christmas day.

Boiling as I type! Merry Christmas!

Now that looks good for hunting beans. A big pot.. Nice and hot.

Robert, you eat the fatback?

HA! Hell No! But the bacon is good! Sometimes I'll cube the fatback really fine and I'll eat it then. But since I love to cook...I kinda love to eat. So I have to watch what I eat so I fit in my race suit. So, I really don't see much good in sticking a HUGE piece of pure fat directly in my body.

But damn it tastes good....

How did your beans turn out??

They were great. Thanks for the recipe.

Made a pot myself and have to agree. Only change I made was using trimmed saltpork. Just remember to put the ladder in the pot while boiling so the little farts can get out.

Ya did good Robert!

If you use a wooden spoon to stir these with, it will soak up all of the toots !!!!!!!!! After you are done cookin, be sure you wash the spoon in COLD WATER so the toots can get loose without splashin hot water all over the cook .........

were gona use salt pork today on your recipe. I appeciate it

Yeah I used saltpork too. I asked him and he said it is the same thing.

BTW, I fried up some fish the other day and ate them with some of these leftover beans. They were even better second time.

Yeah, Saltpork is what I used. I dunno why I put fatback. Its the same thing, just once is salted and cured.



My wife said the same thing!
Glad to see ya'll enjoying the recipe. It makes the effort of picture taking and posting all worth it.

Mking these NOW... BUT you dont mention when to add these items:
2 tbsp salt and pepper
2 tbsp sugar
1 TEASPOON of liquid smoke
1 beef boulion cube
1 jalepeno, halfed, de-seeded

Sure I do! Its just kinda hidden in there

Im sorry sir... Your right I just overlooked it... Thats what we did anyways haha so it worked out great. BEANS TURNED OUT AWESOME!

Had a few friends coming over on Saturday and needed something warm and hearty, so I made up a pot of your "Five Star Pinto Beans" I detoured a little and browned up 2lbs of smoked sausage before starting your recipe. Then added it in before simmering. What can I say, I love sausage!! And I only ever loosly follow recipies anyway!!

It was great!! I am eating leftovers as I type this!! Thanks for posting the recipe!!

time to give this a try

Mr. Yuras,

I made the beans yesterday. They turned out well. I made some cornbread this afternoon and had it with the beans. I am going to write this recipe down on paper. Thanks.

JG

Looks awesome....I'm going to have to try these.

Best beans I've ever made,thanks alot Mr. Yuras

Bring this to the top, it's that time of year!!

do they come out tasting anything like Cooper's BBQ pinto beans? I will have to give this a shot sometime if they do. I hate sweet pinto beans and just about beans you can buy from a can.

No sir...Cooper's attempts to make their beans taste like these.

Thank you.

I always add salt after beans are done,it's supposed to keep beans from being tough,that's what my grand dad told me. That's a good looking pot of pintos.

Forgot all you need is a sweet onion and cast iron skillet corn bread and get out of the way.

Thank you for posting this recipe!!!! These are the best pintos that I have ever ate.

Well thanks!

Thanks for reviving this, I saw it a long time ago and meant to try it but never did. I'm going to go start my 2 day soak now.

Made these for the first time for my family christmas party. They were a hit. Only change I made was added 1 1/2 japs with seeds instead of 1 (we like heat). And Instead of using liquid smoke I cubed some brisket that I had made and tossed it in there. Man they are GOOOOOOD.

The reason they cause the toots is because you only cook them for an hour. The longer you cook them, the more the bean skin breaks down and it becomes easier for you to digest them which results in less gas.

Or so I've heard, I'm not a gut doctor or anything...

Great recipe though, very similar to what I make except I use a moderate dose of Tony Chachere's.

Robert, these beans look awesome! I'm headed to the deer lease this weekend and was thinking about making them. About how many guys will this feed?

Thx

6-8 easily

bump

Soaking beans now. Cooking them on Sunday. My mouth is watering.

Looks great ill give it a try

Going to try them out. I am ready for a change in the way I fix beans and this really sounds great. Thanks.

Going to try it today u just can't beat a good pot of pintos and some corn bread.
You did a great job on the post as well....

Thanks all!

bean recipe looks real good
at competitions i use a pressure cooker to speed up process
also try puttin onions , garlic and tomatoes on smoker a lil while adds nice flavor too

thanks

Devin Thomas
Mutts and Butts BBQ

Pretty close to my recipe. Salt pork, couple japs, and more black pepper for me.

I like to put my onions, garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro in a blender. Ive charred my veggies on the grill before, but never smoked em. Looks like ill have to give that a try.

I cook mine pretty much like you do. I add a little cumin. Some fine eating.

Looks awesome! If I may, try substituting chicken stock (not broth) for the water and beef bouillion.

We add a tablespoon of chili powder per 2 pounds of beans, plus a little salt, pepper and about a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne powder.

Up so I can find this for our Christmas party in early Dec.

Ok, I've done this recipe TWO times now:

first time- to the book, soaked TWO days - beans were Out of this World Good!! 6 stars for sure! Whole family loved, and kids said 'dad, forget the steaks, we just want more beans!'
RY, you da man!
Funny, though; my soaked beans were SPROUTING! (i even planted in garden the 'extra' that wouldn't fit into crock-pot)
My brother made some up like this in Sept at dove-camp, but didn't divulge the details, though I did notice the beans soaking for days. They were good!

2nd time; I 'rushed' it ; beans only soaked a little over 1 day; did everything else the same- same ingredients. no sprouting.
no bueno! beans were 'average'. 1 star, at best.

RY is right on - the full 2 days is magic; like the beans set-up a ferment (like beer brewing) or something .. .
and it's not just the 'tenderness' ; the 2nd pot was tender, just didn't have that deep satisfying flavor like the first . . . .

Gonna try these tonight!!!

ttt

mmmm thanks for bringing this one back to the top. I did not have beans on my mind until now. I just started the soak.

liquid smoke is a great trick to a good pot of beans

Didn't have the full two days to soak, only about 38 to 40 hours. Going to make refried beans out of em tonight, will report back on how they turned out tomorrow. I doubled the recipe, got 16 folks coming over. As long as they go home before the gas hits.

I make a pretty mean pot of beans too. For the smoke flavor I like to add a pound of diced smoked brisket on top of the bacon, & sausage.

That's a meal !!

Sho nuff! Sometimes I'll add pork or venison instead of the brisket, but I prefer the brisket. I quit using hamburger meat. Lots of protein in dem' beans!

Well, made a big pot and refried half of it and left the rest alone. Everybody said they were fantastic !! Thanks again for the recipe.

Glad you enjoyed them!

maybe i missed it in one of the posts,
but i feel one of the most important
steps to good beans is picking and cleaning
them. i mean pouring out the package and picking
through and discarding misshapen and bad
beans and pieces of beans and trash and rocks.
then rinsing thoroughly a couple of times. the reason
i say this is that there are a lot of folks that
i never realized that don't clean and pick.
a guy i knew some years back just cut open a bag of beans
and poured 'em in the pot, and i said "hey ! !
you didn't clean those ! !" he gave me a wtf look
and we poured them back out and got maybe a dozen
rocks and dirt clods out of then, and rinsed
'em and as i poured the dirty brown rinse water
off, i asked " now. . . did you really want all
that crap in your bowl of beans ?"

I was shocked, I bought 5 pounds of some brand I'd never heard of at Tom Thumb and had 1 piece of rock and only about 8 or 10 shriveled beans. Cleanest I've ever seen.

in five pounds worth ? ! ? !
that's a miracle! ! !
you should have went immediately
and bought lottos.
i'd be skeerd to eat 'em.
or maybe just on christmas and easter. . . . .

Sorry, looked again and it was 2 2 pound packs, so it was 4 pounds. Still pretty amazing but missed out on a lotto win I guess.

I'm gonna do these this weekend! I had some at Cracker Barrel yesterday. They were not good!

I haven't made beans for awhile. When the water cooks down I generally add a can of beer and that works great. However, I once decided that if a little beer is good, I ought to just use beer without water. They were the best beans I have ever made. However, about an hour after eating them, the rumbly in the tumbly started. My wife skipped the Grandsons playoff basketball game. I went but sat up high in the bleachers away from everyone. I told the family that I was in the early stages of the flu and to stay away from me.

Lesson learned!

Rainy week! So it's a good time to make them!!! Can't wait until they are ready with some sweet cornbread and tea!!!!

Looks flavorful!

They are!! I'm having leftovers tonight!!

Just made some yesterday with bacon and smoked hocks for the meat. Really very good. I decanted the oil from the top while saving the juice/broth. By the way a grease decanter is a very handy device. Instead of water I used Swanson's beef broth but no cube.

For meat, I bet this would be good with smoked pork jowl.

These do produce a lot of gas so maybe some beano might be on the next grocery list.

Up. Y’all need to try these. Really, really good.

Pressure cook mine in about 25 minutes and hard to find Casserole brand now.

Finishing off a pot right now - I did the Texas cheat and used the quick soak method. No fatback, just 2 smoked hocks with plenty of meat. Simmering now and should be ready for dinner.

I’ve got a pot of Lima beans simmering with a ham shank. Crispy corn sticks will accompany.

Back from the dead! Thanks for the bump

Welcome back. Stop by more often.

Ttt for the second best thing I’ve ever come off here

Winner, winner, bean dinner.

No bout-a-doubt it. This beans recipe is the standard. What's the best recipe cbump?

I guess really it’s a toss up between these beans and this!!

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/993759/1

Bringing this thread back to life just because they really are 5 star.

They're real handy with pork shoulders and brisket. Separate the fat from the broth. The broth is da bomb! Really good in BBQ beans or french dip brisket sammies.

I’m 24 hours in on a soak on this recipe

I printed this recipe a few years back. It is every bit of 5 star.

Awesome !

Cold windy day seemed right for a batch of hot beans and corn bread.

4 lbs. of Pinto Beans soaking for now, when its time to start cooking going to add leftover pork rib meat into it also.

Thing of beauty!!

Now that’s a meal!!!! That corn bread is 5stars

Freaking spoiled. That is awesome Jes

I happily admit that I’m spoiled 24/7/365!

Posting to being the best bean recipe back to the top. Admin should pin this recipe so it never gets lost!