The secret to cooking good beans...

[Centexfarmer]

Growing up as a kid I could always tell how well the "family money" situation was by what we had for dinner.

Some nights we could have beans with cornbread, and other nights we would have cornbread with beans.

Sometimes we would have "Frito Pie." What a treat!

When money was really good we had "Swanson TV dinners." (This was before microwave ovens!) They were covered in foil and had a "school cafeteria style" aluminum tray.

Anyway, I digress.

For years, after I moved out into the world, I tried to make beans the way that my Dad does. Pinto Beans, Black Eyed Peas, Lima Beans, Navy Beans, etc., but I could never get the seasoning right.

Then just this past year I discovered my Dad's secret to making a really great pot of beans; Salt Pork.

That's it. Nothing else!

So pick up a bag of your favorite dried bean, usually less than a dollar per pound, and toss in 1lb of salt pork, usually around one dollar per pound. Cook until the beans or tender, scoop out the salt pork with a slotted spoon, slice or chop it up, put in back into the beans and serve with cornbread!

Yummmm!

 

[Sausy]

Vanman better not read this,for the obvious reasons!

 

[Fastdavy]

That takes me back to Grandmas....thanks for the good memory

 

[Centexfarmer]

Salt pork or bacon makes great baked beans.If you add a little diced onion...green pepper and a tiny bit of brown sugar...even better.

The next person that makes a gas joke gets it...

A couple of tablespoons of Stubbs bar-be-que sauce won't hurt either!

*where is the slobbering smiley?*

 

[Sausy]

Salt pork or bacon makes great baked beans.If you add a little diced onion...green pepper and a tiny bit of brown sugar...even better.

The next person that makes a gas joke gets it...

vanman,good to smell-I mean,see you ,here!

 

[Horschallen]

Salt pork? Bacon? Secret? Hardly.... it is the FAT in those meat that contributes to the great flavor enhancement in food. My mother, a good ole Southern mom, puts bacon dripping in practically everything and on top of biscuits and pies before baking them! Even cheese helps, too.

How marvelous! How wonderful!!!

 

[dynk]

Hate to dissappoint you guys. Here I am from Boston, and I hate beans. I hate all kinds of beans. Green and wax beans are the only ones I will tolerate. The others like kidney beand get picked out of my food, and thrown away. Yuck.

 

[dibble]

I guarantee that salt pork will make the beans delectable and scrumptous. I cook lots of beans and know first hand. Thanks for sharing.

 

[hotdog1846]

There's nothing like my mother's three-bean soup, prepared with a ham bone and small pieces of ham for that salty, hammy flavor. Plus a little garlic and onion. She soaks the beans overnight in salted water with lime juice for a bit of zest. Mmmmmmm!

 

[buzzj]

Well, I love dried beans myself, but the salt pork is a no-no with my diet designed to keep my cholesterol low. So I just cut up a lean pork chop--- it's not as good (after all, fat is flavor), but it helps.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

In the SW USA, some chorizo and a whole onion make a tantalizing addition.
Use pineapple if you like Hawaiian music (smirk).

 

[Bearbottom]

Coming from a long line of old Southerners, Pigs Feet and Hamhocks with onions, and a little red pepper in a crockpot for about 6-8 hours works nicely as well.

 

[Centexfarmer]

Coming from a long line of old Southerners, Pigs Feet and Hamhocks with onions, and a little red pepper in a crockpot for about 6-8 hours works nicely as well.

Oooh! I cook my Lima beans that way! Good stuff for sure!

 

[GL]

Pinto beans. Cooked with pork. With chopped onion, tomato, serrano chiles and cilantro. Mmm...

 

[porter]

i think the simplest way is the best..
soaked overnight
cooked with onions, (i prefer) chicken or turkey bacon, and brown sugar along w. traditional spices

 

[Joshua_me]

A good soak in water overnight should reduce gas emissions, at least that's what i've heard.

Am I soaking the beans or my ass ?

I remember as a kid when my Grandmother made split pea or navy bean soup, it
was an *event*, let me tell you.... I swear, she'd make about 20
gallons of the stuff at one time....Then drag out every piece of Tupperware
she owned and feed the whole flippin' street.

Good times.

I remember she'd go to the store to buy 'ham hocks'. To this day, I'm
not really sure which part of the pig the 'hock' comes from, but I
remember thinking they were totally disgusting at the time.

Turns out the jokes on me, 'cause try as I might, I can't get my soup to
taste anywhere near as good as hers did.

Joshy

 

[Centexfarmer]

Just like my mom use to make, although she would alternate either sweet or jalapeno cornbread! She was a native of Dallas herself, as I wonder if that has anything to do with it! Does sound good though!

Oh yeah! Jalapeno Cornbread!

Here's the recipe that I use:

1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 package of yellow cornbread mix
1/3 cup shredded low-fat chedder cheese or monteray jack or both
1/3 cup cream style corn
1 tablespoon of chopped onion
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh jalapeno peppers

Heat the oven to 400*F. Grease a pie pan.(I use a #5 iron skillet) Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix well. Pour into greased pan. Bake at 400*F for 20 to 25 minutes or until gold brown. (Insert a tooth-pick, if it comes out clean it's ready)

Regular cornbread is good, but Jalapeno Cornbread with pinto beans, and or black-eyed-peas is a little slice of heaven.

My Dad tells me that he can make a meal out of my Jalapeno Cornbread by itself.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

I've heard several TV cooks caution about using salt because it makes the skin of the beans hard. They advise to add salt after the cooking process.
Wouldn't the salt content of ham, bacon or salt pork have the same effect?

 

[Joshua_me]

I remember she'd go to the store to buy 'ham hocks'. To this day, I'm
not really sure which part of the pig the 'hock' comes from

Surely, SOME one knows the source of 'the hock'

I may have to look away in horror, though.....

Joshy

 

[Joshua_me]

It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham proper nor the foot or ankle, but rather the extreme shank end of the leg bone and the associated skin, fat, tendons, and muscle.

Dear God !!!

I just *knew* it would be something like that.....

Josh