Regarding Pinto Beans
by Robert Zimmerman
posted: April 8, 2012
If beans went to high school, the Black Bean would be the captain of the football team and the head cheer-leader these days. The Black Bean would swagger down the hall, full of self importance, surrounded by a crew of swarmy hangers on, not realizing that within a few years, high school will be over and being cool won't amount to, well, a hill of beans.
When we've all exhausted our youthful infatuation with the bland and dim-witted Black Bean, we'll eventually realize that the ones we ignored on the bus are actually starting to run the world. The Pinto Bean, who sat quietly through classes adjusting their glasses and not minding their mismatched socks will emerge as a natural leader of beans. The Black Bean, by this time, will still be wearing their letter jacket and telling stories about how they were so sexy and charismatic back in the day, but we'll have all moved on.
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One pound of dried pinto beans
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5 cups or so of low sodium chicken stock
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One big white onion
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Some minced garlic
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A few jalapeño peppers
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A pinch or two of cumin
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Some hot water
Let's get started. Put that chicken stock in a pot, and start heating it up over high heat. Chop up the onion nice and fine and do the same to the jalapeño peppers once you deftly scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Once all chopped up real fine, dump them in the chicken broth, which is getting hot by now. Put some minced garlic in there and that dash of cumin powder. Rinse off the dried Pintos in a colander and dump them in the pot. Sit back and bring that to a boil. The whole thing should be just barely covered with liquid. If it's not, add some water or more chicken broth until they are just barely covered. Once we get a boil, turn it way down to a simmer. For the purposes of getting your simmer right, we want to see a nice even bubble around the edges of the pot.
Okay, relax. Go watch the MLB Network or kick back with that Ken Bruen novel you're reading right now. We're going to let that simmer, with the lid slightly askew, for about two hours. Check it from time-to-time. Give it a stir every so often and add hot water as needed to keep them covered. After a couple of hours, give them a taste. Keep cooking them on low until they are to your personal liking.
Happiness happens.
Here's a fine suggestion. Set aside a serving or two of your remarkable Pinto Beans in a smaller sauce pot, set to low heat. Chop up a few slices of green pepper and add them. Add a healthy dash of Tapatío hot sauce. Use a masher of some sort to get those beans into a mashed-up state. Let them cook on low, stirring and mashing them often, until most of the liquid is cooked off. What you have here is essentially re-fried beans. So, throw a couple of corn tortillas in an oiled skillet and heat them up until you can smell the corn. Spread your pinto-mash on a tortilla, grate some sharp cheddar cheese (aged at least one year please) on there and wonder why you haven't been eating this all your life.
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