The first thing we need to do is inspect and wash our beans. Weigh out your beans, then inspect small handfuls at a time while transferring them to a colander / strainer for washing. You're looking for small rocks, and shitty dark beans that WILL taste like shit and impart off flavors if you cook them. Find all the undesirables and toss them in the trash where they belong. You should have only nice light colored beans remaining, and no darkies.
Run the beans under water to get rid of any dirt, then put them in a bowl and allow them to soak in water while you prep the other ingredients.
Jason Hill
I am following along but instead with red beans.
Austin Barnes
After prepping everything, the bacon goes in the cold pan in order to render the fat to cook the veggies. I want the bacon to be cooked, but still soft. Once done, I'll set the bacon aside, and drain off any excess fat. Welcome aboard, user.
Carson Peterson
>habanero >tomato I don't have high expectations, so no pressure OP. Will occasionally check on thread.
Grayson Thomas
Once the bacon is set aside, and the excess fat's been drained, in goes only HALF the veggies, without the garlic. The other half will be added later, and I don't want to burn the garlic. Welcome aboard.
Don't be afraid of a little heat, user.
Austin James
Once we've got a little color on the veggies, in goes the garlic to be cooked until fragrant.
William Parker
Once the garlic is fragrant, then we're done with this phase.
Next comes the beans, the cooked bacon, and enough chicken stock to cover the beans by at least an inch. We'll bring this up to a rolling boil and let it cook until the skins start to separate and they start getting tender. We'll add spices and seasonings later.
Anthony Turner
When it gets to a nice boil, the fats will surface, and you'll need to skim off the excess for a less greasy end product.
Ayden Hughes
The skins will start to split on the beans, and they'll become tender enough to crush between your fingers with little effort. It's at this stage we want to turn the heat down to a simmer and add our spices. This took me a little over an hour, and I topped up the pot with a little hot water.
If you spice to soon, you'll just boil off most of the flavors over time, so that's why it tends to work better if you do it during the final simmer. Salt is reserved at the very end, due to the use of the bacon, which has salt already.
Elijah Bell
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Dominic Cooper
Very nice so far OP. I plan on making some black eyes peas with smoked deer sausage in a day or two, will post if this thread is still here
Grayson Campbell
Once the beans start to get tender, go ahead and toss in the other half of your veggies. By waiting till the end, the veggies will still be a little crunchy, but not completely raw, and this will make a nice contrast between the soft beans and veggies and the fresh veggies.
Gavin Brooks
With the rest of the veggies in, now it's just a matter of cooking them until they're as tender as you want them. I like mine pretty tender, so I cooked these for another 30 mins or so.
>smoked deer sausage That sounds delicious.
Lincoln Wilson
Have you ever sprouted your beans before cooking, OP?
Sebastian Allen
When the beans are as tender as you want them, if you want a thicker, creamier type of broth, just use a ladle to crush some of the beans in the pot, and this will thicken the broth you made into a nice rich "gravy".
Here I've ladled out about 1/3 of the beans and hit them with a potato masher, which I then added back to the pot.
That would change the profile of the bean and might alter the taste, so no, I haven't.
Jose Lewis
I let it simmer on low for about another 15 minutes to thicken it up some more. You've got to be careful not to burn any of the beans you mashed, as they'll settle on the bottom of the pan.
Dylan Stewart
After a final seasoning check, I added salt, and called it good.
I served it up with some fresh diced tomato, and green onion. Some's going in the fridge, and some in the freezer. As with all one pot meals, these will get better with time as the flavors blend in.
I've got a pork butt I need to smoke, and these beans will go right along with some nice BBQ pulled pork sandwiches this weekend.