Charros Frijoles and a Little Food Lore

Charros Frijoles

Did you know that beans were one of the Three Sisters—the sisters being corn (maize), beans, and squash?  Squash shaded the roots of the corn, cornstalks provided support for the climbing beans.  All rather endearing I think.  Together they provided a nutritional foundation.  I ran into that little kernel of knowledge while reading a romance novel of all things some while back and it stuck with me.  Apparently, Native Americans combined the three to provide a complete nutritional foundation.

Since moving across country from our beloved little New England Victorian home to our now beloved desert home in Arizona, we've learned about new foods and flavors, and among those are pinto beans.  It's taken a while to develop a taste for caliente and piquante foods, but we've now started to appreciate and crave the flavors of heat and spice.  By some measure I'm sure we're still on the mild side in comparison to true natives, but hot sauce is a stable in our pantry along with some chilies, grins.  It's all good.

So, let me share a nice hearty pinto bean soup.  It's spicy good, though you can make it more or less spicy depending on your taste, it's inexpensive, and pretty much hands off once you get it in the slow cooker.  These are not refried beans, though similar in make up, as they have the addition of tomatoes and meat.  Also charros frijoles is soupier, served with a spoon.  Nice thick squares of cornbread is a tasty side to this.  Mmm mmm!  This reheats like a dream and freezes very well.  And if possible, it's even better on the following day when the flavors have had a chance to get acquainted with each other and develop a companionable flavorship.  It makes a potful, so unless you're feeding a small community or have a crowd of hungry eaters, you're probably going to have leftovers.

I put together several recipes, choosing those ingredients that were the most appealing to me, so the soup is quite versatile and forgiving.  This is how I made mine.

Charros Frijoles (a/k/a Cowboy Beans, and who doesn't love cowboys?)

1 one-pound package of dried pinto beans, picked, soaked overnight, rinsed, drained

1 small onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 1/2 ounces bacon, chopped, cooked and crumbled (I used the bacon grease to cook the onions in—only until translucent)

1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained

2-4 cups of chicken broth or make broth using chicken bouillon

Enough water to bring liquid a coupe of inches over the beans

1 teaspoon (or more) cumin

1 teaspoon (or more) chili powder

3 1/2 ounces cooked ham, chopped (or chorizo)

salt and pepper to taste (be careful of the salt if you're using bouillon)

a little chopped jalapeno is nice, added at the end

1 cup of cilantro chopped (added at the end, maybe 30 minutes before)

Cook the bacon, crumble, toss in the slow cooker.  Use the grease to cook the onions until translucent.  Toss everything in the slow cooker except the cilantro and the jalapeno, reserving those to add towards the end of cooking.  Set the slow cooker on low, and let it cook for about 6 hours.  I start testing the beans at 4 hours to see if they are soft enough to eat.  Keep an eye on the liquid level, adding water as needed to keep the beans covered by an inch or so.  Depending on the freshness of your beans it may take shorter or longer to cook them. Taste the broth for seasoning, adding whatever you think will make it perfect for you.  At the end I take a potato masher and give 'em a couple of good mashes to thicken the soup up a little. 

Cook's Note:  This can get too salty very easily, considering the bacon, chicken broth and/or bouillon.  I use low sodium bacon and don't add additional salt until I taste for seasoning.  When I've tasted it and the broth was too salty, I added additional water.  The other choice is to add a potato, cut in half, to absorb some of the salt. Just remove the potato before serving.