- 2 cups dry pinto beans
- 4 cups water for soaking
- 1 tbsp solid bacon grease
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Directions:
- Rinse the beans and pick out any pebbles or bad beans.
- Leave beans in 4 cups of water to soak overnight, or 7-11 hours.
- Do not discard the juice from the soaked beans. Put the beans into a 2-qt crockpot, then add enough of the bean juice until it comes up about 1/2 inch above the top of the beans. (If there's not enough bean juice, add more water.)
- Add the other ingredients to the crockpot and stir.
- Cook on low for 8-11 hours.
- Drain off and reserve the liquid--it is ok if some of it stays in with the beans. Mash the beans, adding reserved liquid back in slowly until you get the consistency you want.
Notes:
- Substitute for bacon grease: shortening or some other fat.
- These can also be prepared with only 1 chipotle and with less salt. I haven't tried it with less than 1 tsp of salt.
- Black beans also work well with this preparation.
- I've read that cooking the beans in the juice they were soaked in causes more gas. I have not found this to be the case for me, and I think that cooking the beans in the juice keeps a lot more flavor. But they can also be made by discarding the water after the soak and putting fresh water in to cover before cooking.