My mom sold copies of the family recipe in the classified section of the Texas Monthly "back in the day."
She did pretty good, too.
I've placed every time with our family recipe in BBQ cook-offs, including 1st place at a big competition last year.
Here for the first time ever, our recipe is offered to all of y'all, my tear-dropper friends.
* 1# dried pinto beans
* 1 medium onion, yellow or sweet, coarsely chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 tsp. Ground Comino (Cumin)
* 1 Tbsp. Black Pepper
* 1 Tbsp. Salt
* 4 slices hickory smoked bacon, sliced in 1/2" pcs.
* ~~~or~~~
* 1 smoked ham-hock
* ~~~or~~~
* 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Wash the beans in a collander to remove any dirt. Cull any discolored beans and discard.
Place beans in a 4 1/2 or 6 quart pot and cover with water and let soak overnight.
Discard soak-water and add water back to pot to cover beans by an inch or so.
Bring to boil over high heat, adding other ingredients. Keep covered.
Upon boil, reduce heat to simmer and crack the lid a little to allow some steam to escape.
Stir occasionally, do not let the beans stick to the bottom.
If you need to add water while cooking make sure its HOT water, cool water is no bueno.
Cook for 2 1/2-3 hours and serve immediately or turn the burner on low and they'll stay on the stove all day if you want.
I prefer the bacon, it basically just melts into the beans and adds a hint of the hickory smoke in the background.
Sometimes I'll do the ham-hock thing, its very good, too.
Substitute the vegetable oil for the meat, and your vegan friends will beg you for the recipe!
Occasionally I'll add (1) chipotle pepper "en adobo" at the beginning to fire this recipe up a lil, but the 1 Tbsp of black pepper does a pretty good job of that already.