OK everybody. Dale Sellman swears by these pinto beans and because they are so similar to my own recipe for beans, you can try them for yourself to see if they are as good as he says. I stole my bean recipe from Bob Bullock, the crusty old former Lt. Governor. Bullock probably lived on beans in between wives. He had about 5 wives before the last one sobered him up.
Still, I was probably one of the few Texas Newspapermen Bullock claimed to like and he sent me a Christmas card every year (along with lots of others) and would write me a note every now and then cussing one politician or another. He might have liked me because I didn’t editorialize against him for driving drunk and naked down Congress Avenue with two ‘ladies’ in his vehicle. I might have applauded him. He just sounded like my kind of guy….not that I ever did anything
like that.
Somehow his bean recipe got included in a book on Texas recipes and I tried it and it became my favorite. The main difference between Bullock’s beans and Dale Sellman’s beans is that Bullock used brown sugar instead of white table sugar. I miss Bullock and his crazy ways and you have to admit, he did love Texas. His ending line was always the same…….”God Bless Texas.”
Dale’s Pinto Beans
Get yourself a 1 lb bag of dried Pinto Beans
1 pkg of Sliced Salt Pork
Some salt and pepper and a little Chile powder.
Also you will need a small sweet onion and sugar.
* Pour the beans out on the counter and pick through them looking for small rocks, raking the beans into a colander.
* Rinse thoroughly and place in a large pot or electric kettle.
* Cover with water. Cut two ½ “ slices of onion and dice them, add to pot.
* Add the salt pork, and start bringing up the heat. Add 3 Teaspoons of salt and some fresh ground Black pepper, along with 2 teaspoons of regular sugar.. Add 2 teaspoons of Chili powder. (Do not use more than this or you will have Chile beans)
* Place lid on pot and bring to a fast boil. Cut off heat and let set for 1 hour with lid on.
After the hour, bring to a slow boil and continue for 1-½ hours. Check for doneness and water level. Taste and add salt if necessary.
Remove salt pork and continue to cook until done.
Dale Lee Sellman 2008
You young wives or young men pay attention to the part about sorting through the pre-cooked beans and picking out the rocks. The beans in the packages DO have rocks in them. It’s an old family legend that the worst cussin’ my mother ever got was right after she married my dad and she fixed a pot of beans. She didn’t know to pick out the rocks. He bit down on a rock and almost broke a tooth off.
She ALWAYS picked out the rocks after that….after she got over her hurt feelings that he would say such things to her. He must have got over it, they lived long enough to celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary.
If you have a good bean recipe, let’s hear about it. It’s an essential Real Texas skill.
I’m David Werst and I’ll see you out in Real Texas.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I make mine pretty much the same way but without any sugar. And I add some fresh cilantro during the last 1/2 hour. Also we can’t get salt pork here so I use thick slice bacon, left in from beginning to end.
David,
Here is another great recipe for Peach Cobbler. Everyone that has tasted this cobbler wants the recipe. You can also use other fruit like apples, blueberry, etc.
WALTER’S PEACH COBBLER
>
> 9 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (3 packages of frozen peaches thawed, 16 oz packages).
> 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
> 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
> 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
> 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
> 2 cups sugar
> 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
> 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
> 1/4 teaspoon salt >
Spray a 9 by 13 baking pan with non- stick spray be sure and place on baking sheet when baking. I use 1/2 size aluminum baking pan. Set aside
> Toss sliced thawed peaches with ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Set aside
> Place melted butter in large bowl and whisk together with flour, 2 cups sugar, baking powder, Salt, and milk. Pour batter into prepared pan. Layer evenly with peaches slices on top of batter, and the batter rises through the peaches and form a crust. >
Bake at 300 degrees on lower rack in oven for 1:30 minutes or until brown and bubbly.>
Enjoy
> Walter
I was raised on a small farm during the early post depression days–and on pinto beans. Many were the times when that was all we had to eat. Nothing better than pinto beans, cornbread, and lots of fresh onion to go with it. I like that as much now as I did growing up on that small farm.
I’ve always enjoyed cooking and got pretty good at it raising two small boys into manhood as a single parent. I do a lot of the cooking now, and did all of it for about ten years after I retired and my wife was still working. I cook from ‘scratch’, meaning I never measure anything.
ALL pinto bean recipes are basically the same, except for small changes in ingredients, additions to seasonings added or subtracted. When cooking only a 1 lb. package of beans I would always add one large chopped onion. Additionally, I add onion powder and garlic in some form or other–fresh chopped, powder, or processed in a bottle. A couple of dashes of Worchestershire sauce adds flavor, as does a dash of liquid smoke. Try that sometimes. Instead of using salt, I use fahita seasoning.
Salt pork is good, as well as bacon ends. When I use bacon for seasoning I always fry it first then use the bacon and the grease for seasoning. Fried bacon and the grease gives it a better flavoring that raw bacon.
You definitely should ‘pick’ the beans before cooking. Not only do you find small rocks but there will always be small “clods” of dried dirt as well as beans that are bad and some that mice have chewed on in storage.
When my children and their families come for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we don’t have the traditional turkey and dressing. I cook ham, brisket, pork loin, sausage, and PINTO BEANS, and my wife does the side dishes and desserts. I cook a 4 lb. bag of pintos, and have to do it in two separate pots. After they are cooked one goes into the slow cooker to keep them warm and the other is for reserve.
Here’s the greatest hint you’ll ever get for cooking pinto beans. A cup of Coca Cola added to the beans when they are nearly done will eliminate the flatulence factor of eating pinto beans.
It completely does away with the old saying, “Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat the more you poot.”
It looks like everyone is pretty much in agreement on beans. Beans is beans and you don’t want to do too much to them if you are a real pinto bean connoisseur.
If you just can’t stand to make them real plain then try this recipe:
2 lbs beans
6 cups water
1 chopped onion
1 t chili powder
1 t course ground black pepper
1 cup chopped bacon
2 t salt
1 t comino
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped sweet/sour jalapenos
2 T honey
2-8 chopped jalapenos/serranos
2-4 chopped shallots
2-4 chopped cloves of garlic
2 tomatillos
Fry the bacon and in the grease brown some of the onions, and all the fresh peppers, shallots, garlic and tomatillos.
Put it all together and cook it until its done
You can also add in some of the venison/pork link sausage that you have in the smokehouse. After it’s smoked, cut the links into pieces about 1/2 inch thick and put it in about 30 minutes before the beans are done. And, you can add some chopped raw onions to sprinkle on the top of each serving.
I’d like to see a couple of Black Bean recipes, and
I do have one to share!!
I like to add one suggestion. After cleaning bean, put them in a container of water and let soak overnight. That work on any dried bean. In other words, clean and soak overnight before you cook.
All beans are good and good for you! Am I preaching to the choir?
Yes you are preaching to the choir DoctorWu. And you sound like you might have a bean recipe somewhere. Let me know!
David, I read “Warthog”s” response to Pinto Beans and I am not sure if he gave us the recipe for for Pinto Beans or his mother’s recipe for Fruit Cake……such a lot of stuff. Must have had one hell of a herb garden!!
And what is “Flatulence” ? I looked up and down the spice aisle and could not find it. ?? I figured just because he doesn’t like it in beans, it might be good in some other recipe and I would get me a bottle and give it a try. But, no, couldn’t find it. Is there another, possibly more common name, for this ingredient? I stopped a older lady shelf stocker and asked her if she had ever heard of “flatulence” and she took on a really haughty look,stomped her foot and stormed off. Very rude, must complain to management. You know you have to be careful how you act in front of other people, shame on her! A little common, pleasant conversation would be nice. Shouldn’t forget our up-bringin. Anyway, if any of your subscribers can direct me in the right direction or at least tell me how I might get myself some “Flatulence”, I would be really happy, as H.E.B. is really clueless about product. I think it would be great to bypass them and go right to the source and me some “flatulence”. It would be a real “Gas”.
Dale Lee Sellman
Flatulence….”isn’t that something my dog does under the covers on a cold night?”
that peach cobbler sounds outrageous!
I make my beans according to my mood, sometimes I fancy them up with extra ingredients like roasted poblano peppers and tomatillos.
I always fry up bacon bits and then deglaze the pot 3 times, makes a stronger broth.
I toss in cumin powder, chili powder, a couple of fresh jalapenos, onions & garlic. Celantro comes at the end as does the salt.
Soaking the beans overnight is a must, and, if you don’t want to “flatuate” put in about a tsp of baking soda, don’t know why it works, but it does.
Hi Ya’ll. I’m new to cooking beans, believe it or not. My mom says I couldn’t eat beans when I was a child, because I would break out in hives. Guess I was allergic. I tried eating beans last year, to my surprise, I loved them and didn’t break out in hives.
So now I’m on my way to learning how to cook great beans with all these wonderful recipes on your webpage.
My question about beans is, ” Do raw pinto beans go bad”?, What I mean is I noticed that some beans in the bag are a light color, and some are kinda redish brown. Your reply is greatly appreciated. Belle
Hey Belle
David here: I too have noticed different color beans in the same pile, but to my knowledge, they are all still good. Beans last a long time, years maybe, without going bad. Just cook ‘em up and enjoy. You’ve got a lot of lost time to make up.
beans will last a long time, but the fresher the are, the faster they’ll cook.
Hey Belle,My Belle,
Don’t worry about dried beans being mixed in the bag. I have purchased Pinto’s and find Black, White, Red and Lima beans in the bag. Obviously, they sort and bag many kinds of dried beans at the same facility and some of them just get mixed in. As for the color of the Pinto Beans themselves, I can tell you with authority that you should always pick the lightest color of beans. They are the freshest and will cook within the guide lines for most bean receipes. The darker ones need more: 1. soaking time, or 2. boil a little longer than “bring to boil”, and let set for 1 hour, in order for them to soak up the water necessary to cook throughly and still be favorful and tender.
Belle, as you are an admitted new “Bean Cook”, I will share with you the secret of “No flatulence”.
Always, Always use a slotted wooden spoon while cooking, stirring, Pinto beans. Now, after every stirring of the beans, raise the spoon in the air above the pot and rotate it clockwise three times and then tap the edge of the top of the pot. Then rotate the spoon counter-clockwise three times and tap the edge of the top of the pot 2 times. Continue as you cook the beans, your friends will be amazed with the results as you present your “special” beans.
Any questions, just send an email.
Your unknown friend,
Dale Lee Sellman
Cooker of Beans, Extrodinaire
Now THAT’S funny! lol
I found Bob Bullock’s bean recipe years ago and will not make beans any other way. I come from a long line of Texas bean cookers and I am now their queen! I always had a soft spot in my heart for ol’ Bob..you’re right…you gotta admit – his love of Texas was NEVER in question, no matter what shananigans he was up to!
My daddy’s family were poor cotton farmers in the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s around the Waco area. They were so poor that when people came to visit, Granny just added more water to the beans. They ate so many that Daddy suffered with gout later in life, mainly from so many purines in his body from the frijoles. I say bring it on….I’m not about to not have my pintos!
Nice blog you have.
hi, is salt pork the same thing as fat back? i grew up in the south, but without a southern mama so I am having to learn some things on my own. I have used ham before, but a friend of mine suggested fatback. Now I’m reading here ‘salt pork’
thanks
It’s the same as far as I’m concerned!
I use ham in Lima beans, not pinto. You can use bacon too if you can’t find salt pork.
Hi Jess,
There is no difference between “Fat Back” and Salt Pork. One and the same!! They are “Zachary”. Now let me direct your attention to Blog 14, this is IMPORTANT, if you do not wish to have flatulant or gassy beans!
You cannot use a metal or a solid wooden spoon. It must be a slotted wooden spoon. The Scientific explanation is that when you rotate the spoon clockwise 3 times over the pot the slots in the spoon create a “mini” tornado inside the pot which increases atmospheric pressure. This causes the gaseous elements to compact. Then when you tap the edge of the pot it cancels that action. When, you rotate the spoon counter clockwise, it reverses the action and releases the compacted gaseous elements into the atmosphere and not in you tummy. Continuing this throughout the cooking process, guarantees that these will be “special”. Actually, you should make Monetary Wagers on these beans being “FREE”. Eat beans and make money at the same time, WOW, win,,,,Win,,,,
Please let me hear of you wonderous results.
Your unknown friend,
Dale Sellman
There is a difference between salt pork and fat back. Salt pork is a cured product and generally contains a streak of meat while fat back is raw, uncured and contains no meat. As the name indicates, fat back comes only from the back of the pig while salt pork can come from other areas of the pig. However, any pig any part any way it’s all good.
Must try Bob’s bad Beans!
Growing up in East Texas we had “fresh pintos’ before it was time to dry em.
Love the surprisingly different flavor of fresh pintos, was wondering if anyone had a dandy recipes they’d care to share?