my southern Beans (with apologies to Bearfan for the copycat)

[NMDemDist2]

I love bean, red, pink, black, pinto whatever. Grammy used to make the best Pinto beans and I still make them today

the night before, take 2 cups beans and soak them in 6 cups water

the next morning drain and rinse them and put them in the crock pot or a big pot (discard any "floaters"



grab some pork. Ham hock, pork butt, sausage or even chicken works (but not as well)

I chose a ham steak



you'll need some celery, carrots and onion



i like to grate the carrots with my Mouli grater (but minced works too)



and don't forget the garlic



chop it all up and throw it in the pot




chop the ham into bite size pieces and fry it up to reduce the water and till it's browned





now to make it taste good, add some stock (I used my turkey stock from Christmas) but you can use canned broth or bullion. Use the broth to "wash" the fry pan and get all the ham taste out



and some spice (I like a pinch of cumin, but you don't have to) the bay leaf is very important, the rest are your choice



if it's going in the crock pot add enough water to cover everything, if you're doing it on the stove add enough to cover plus two inches



in the crock pot cook on High for about 4 hours, on the stove top simmer about 2 hours. You'll know the beans are done when you blow on them and the "skin" on the bean splits

serve over rice with cornbread on the side. the next day serve the mixed rice and beans over leftover cornbread

Kentucky cooking YUM!

[bearfan454]

1. Yum is right.

I never use the crock pot. I will try it that way next time. No apology needed at all.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i used the crock to go thrift store shopping. Stove top works fine

and takes less time :)

just be sure to add extra liquid

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I never heard that about blowing on a bean

to test its doneness. I gotta try that next time Sparkly makes a "bean dish"

[NMDemDist2]

4. yup, them old grannies had some slick stuff up their sleeves

i learned all kinds of tricks from my Kentucky hill billy grammy. She spent most of her life cooking on a farm for the "hands"

she used ice shavings instead of water in her pie crusts, they were the flakiest crusts ever.

the bean trick catches them at the perfect time, cooked all the way but not mushy

[grasswire]

5. in foodie parlance...

.."washing out" the browned bits in the bottom of the pan is called "deglazing." Kind of a handy word for that simple act.

[NMDemDist2]

6. ahhh! now just remind me three more times so I remember

but now when I read that I'll know what they're talking about LOL

thanks!

i wonder how many lurkers know "de-glaze" ??

i sure didn't :)

[merci_me]

7. You mentioned Kentucky.....gotta ask

do you have a recipe for barbecued mutton? The mutton that Owensboro is known for? I can do the burgoo, but never got just the right recipe for the mutton.

We lived there for almost 3 yrs back in the late 60's and I loved the barbecued mutton and burgoo. We had babies and student loans, so our big treat was to run to a tavern and pick up pint of mutton and bring it home.

Whenever we go back to Ohio to visit, we always swing a fair way off our route to go through Owensboro, on the way to eat and on the way home, to pick up some for the ice chest. Last time we picked up some canned barbecued mutton, but it just isn't the same.

Mary

[NMDemDist2]

8. sorry no n/t

[ernstbass]

9. Have you ever cooked beans in the crockpot w/out soaking them?

I'm gone for 10 hours at work and recently cooked some beans on low for this time but they were cooked to mush! I think next time I'll only soak fofr one hour or not at all before starting the crockpot. Any suggestions?

[NMDemDist2]

10. any way you can put the slowcooker on a delay?

they could soak for a few hours (6) then cook

be sure to rinse the beans really well, but I'm not sure it'll work that way

[SW FL Dem]

17. Why can't you plug the crock pot into a regular timer? n/t

[NMDemDist2]

18. i had a stove once that had a timer on the outlet

wonder why they don't do that anymore?

[ernstbass]

24. Thanks for the suggestions

[Stinky The Clown]

25. Be careful with timers

Some are not able to carry the amperage of a cooking device ... just a few light bulbs .......

[fishnfla]

11. Will you

marry me? :hi:

We already have the same cutting board, stove and crock pot as each other. And I just love beans.

[NMDemDist2]

12. doncha just love that board? I choked a bit at the $50 price tag

but over the years it's worth every penny.

[fishnfla]

13. I got it as a gift

its a beaut, actually I use it as a decoration and chop up with an older board, its almost too nice to use......
that stovetop gives us trouble, I ruined the burners by using enamal pans.....so they are stained, yours are nice and clean

[NMDemDist2]

14. i had a DUer give me the trick for that

take a razor blade and scrape (gently) all the gunk off,

hubby had one of these in his tool box that now lives in my kitchen drawer



then use BarKeepers Friend (I found mine at Safeway)


mine were badly stained from my cast iron til I got that trick.

and use the board, it's worth it but only if it can live on the counter, it weighs a ton. Just invest in a bottle of butcher block oil (I found one at the kitchen store for $3) and oil 'er up once a month or so to keep it looking great :)

[fishnfla]

15. thanks for the help AZ!

My wife will be ecstatic! I owe ya one!

[NMDemDist2]

16. you owe Frogtutor, he's the one that suggested the razor blade

i just got lucky with the BarKeepers friend. I bought it for my stainless cookware and noticed that is said it worked on glass counter tops :D

[eleny]

19. I'm fixing this tonight

But I couldn't make the beans from scratch. Seems that I have the darndest time softening the beans at this high altitude. I always thought it was just me. But a while back I was watching Jacques Pepin as he was making a bean dish. He showed how to soak them etc etc. When he mentioned preparing beans at high altitude he scrunched up his face like he was in pain. Apparently, it can be difficult. Besides, I wanted to fix this for tonight and time is short. In a nutshell, I used canned white beans.

Everything else was pretty much the same except I used chicken stock to wash the pan. I liked how you use cumin and time. Something a little different there.

Oh, and I cheated by buying a cornbread. I have the cornmeal and all but took one look at the cornbread at Soopers and the devil made me do it.

Thanks for this recipe, hon. I know it's going to be just the ticket on this cloudy, chilly day. One look at the sky and I knew what I wanted to have for supper and went straight to your thread for the ingredient list.

[NMDemDist2]

20. it's great! I have leftovers and we're having that over the cornbread

tonight

PS Jiffy Corn muffin mix makes GREAT cornbread (that's what I did this weekend) just use two boxes and the "Johnny Cake" recipe on the box for a perfect 8x8 pan of cornbread :)

I did invest in some cornmeal for the pizza so I guess for a while the Jiffy boxes will stay at the store. It's ok though, I've been wanting to make my step granny's Skillet corn bread for a while. Now I have no excuse LOL

[eleny]

21. Hubby had two bowls....

It really is delicious. Thanks for taking the time to post all about the recipe. Maybe you could post your granny's cornbread recipe for the skillet when you make it? No rush! I like skillet cooking like that. I make my potato pudding in the skillet and also a stovetop pineapple upside down cake in the big stainless frying pan.

One thing I like to do is to make the Jiffy blueberry muffins in a metal pie tin and serve it in wedges like a piece of pie. The tin looks so country/homey sitting on the counter.

[NMDemDist2]

22. try it with lentils some time. lentils don't need to soak

just sweat the veggies with with some EVOO and add the lentils, meat and broth

it's delish too :) cooks fast too, dinner in 30 minutes usually

it's a great way to use leftover meat, since anything can go in the lentils and they will pick up the flavor

[eleny]

23. we like lentils

i saved back the bone with a little meat around it. i figure to save it and use your recipe with chicken and the small piece of bone n' ham to add more flavor.

it was a good day to get the ingredients since the bags of little carrots were two for the price of one. i like those carrots since they're all clean. i'm making a chicken soup tomorrow and got them and a big parsnip, too. dunno why parsnip makes a difference but it does. maybe my imagination!

[Love Bug]

26. You might have better luck cooking beans with a pressure cooker

Even at a higher altitude you should be able to make decent beans using a pressure cooker.

Edit: BTW, I'm so making this this weekend. Just looking at those pictures puts me in the mood for a mess 'o beans. I picked up some polish sausage yesterday from the Polish deli (paczkis -- mmmmmmm) which I'm gonna use instead of ham.

[eleny]

27. I've tried it and they still came out odd

But I should try it again. I may have had a bad batch of beans. I do have luck soaking the large lima beans, though. It's some of the smaller varieties that I had problems with.