Last weekend, I used dried pinto beans for the first time. And actually, other than a brief flirtation with cannellini beans during college and the occasional lentil soup or salad, my experience with dried beans is nil. When I was growing up, we were more of a canned bean family and so the idea of cooking with dried beans just never really crossed my mind.
However, over the last few months (or so) I've been seeing lots of people write about using dried beans. The Pioneer Woman did it (and paired them with cornbread). The Gluten-Free Girl described beans in delicious detail. And Luisa, the Wednesday Chef, did amazing things with giant white lima beans.
Bolstered by their seemingly delicious successes, I decided to try it for myself. I actually had a jar of pinto beans on the highest shelf in my kitchen, so that seemed like a good enough place to start. I took my inspiration from Ree's recipe, reducing it at bit because I had a scant three cups of beans (and she used four generous cups). I rinsed the beans, picking them over to make sure there weren't any pebbles or foreign bits. Deeming them sufficiently cleaned, I poured them into my 5-quart dutch oven and filled the pot so that the water came about two inches over the beans. I added a chopped onion, a couple of cloves of minced garlic and, after much internal debate, decided to add the suggested bacon. I settled the pot on the large back burner of my stove and let it simmer for a little more than two hours (I did add some salt and pepper around the end of hour one).
I was astounded by how delicious those beans were. They were miles away from the canned ones in terms of taste and texture. That first night I ate them over sauteed swiss chard (with a side of Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips). The next night a friend came over for dinner and so reheated some of the beans and served them over short grain brown rice with homemade salsa fresca and a green salad. We both ate until we were stuffed because it all tasted so good.
So if you're like me, and have little experience cooking with dried beans, try starting out with a pot of long-simmered pinto beans. I think you'll find you become an instant convert!
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