Bigwheel’s World Famous Top Secret Prize-Winnin' Pintos

[Keri C]

I thought this was already on here but I couldn't find it - thus, here it is. This is an excellent recipe for pinto beans from a fella who goes by BigWheel down in Texas. This is our preferred recipe these days, except that I simmer a coupla ham hocks in the crockpot overnight and use that water for the cooking water. Might as well keep all that love in the beans, eh? Now, darlin', you also need a good cornbread recipe to go with those beans - my blue ribbon cornbread is HERE.
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Bigwheel’s World Famous Top Secret Prize-Winnin' Pintos

2 lbs. washed pintos
1/3 lb. salt pork..or few strips bacon..or pork hock
1 onion
2 split and seeded japs or serrano peppers
3-4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. wooster sauce
3 Tbsp. chili powder (Try mix and match Ancho, Gebhardts, Chimayo, etc)
1 can extra Hot Rotel Tomatoes with Habs
salt and pepper to taste

Cover beans with 2" of water and soak 1 hr. Drain and refill to same level. Add the salt pork and bring to a rapid boil. Reduce heat and put on the lid. Simmer till nearly done but not quite then add the other stuff and cook another 20-30 mins. Once you add the tomatoes they dont tender up any more. Add water anywhere along the way if they get too dry. Veggies can be chopped..purreed or floated depending if your comp cooking or eating at home. If you feeding wimmen, chillin, or yankees you can use only half a can of the maters. If you want them smokey, stick them in the smoke in the coolest part of the pit with the lid off for at least a coupla hours.

 

[jason molinari]

Thanks Rita. I know Bigwheel of hotlinks fame

I'll make these pintos next weekend for my cookout...bakes beans are always too sweet for me, these sounds awesome.

I assume he uses dried pintos? If so, is 1 hour soaking enough? I normally soak dry beans overnight.

 

[Daniel Shuflin]

I used this recipe in a competition here in the Northwest last weekend. There was a Salmon and BBQ Bean Category. I scored dead last in the BBQ Beans. I guess they have never been to Texas. When you order BBQ Beans in Texas, pinto beans is what you will get.

 

[Bryan S]

Just got done making these, Thanks for posting Kerri. I made a 1/2 batch with a 1 lb bag of beans but with a whole hock (simmered lastnight for 3+ hrs, and used that water like Kerri said to do) and the whole can of Rotel, then just eyeballed everything else. Finding Rotel here is hard let alone Rotel with Habs. I found the Original with chilis, and bought a small can of fire roasted "HOT"diced jalpenos that were right beside the Rotel. I used Chimayo mild chili powder.
These turned out really good as is, but IMO something was lacking. Not much just a little something. I adjusted the salt and pepper better but just missing something. So I'm standing there thinking and it came to me pretty quick. They needed a tiny splash of BBQ sauce. So I got my bottle of Head Country Hickory out, only use that for baked beans and put in about 2-3 TBS. That was all they needed and they are just dandy. Nice change fromm baked beans all the time.

 

[Jen W]

This looks like a great comp recipe that I can use in Terlingua Texas this year. I have never cooked pintos in a comp, when we think of beans in the east we think "baked." they just dont cut it in Tejas. Thanks!

 

[John Bridgman]

OK, here's a dumb question. For a recipe like this, do you drain off the water/broth at the end or is the trick to "almost run out of water" (ie maybe down to the tops of the beans) when the beans are done ?

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Bridgman:
or is the trick to "almost run out of water" (ie maybe down to the tops of the beans) when the beans are done ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Bingo.