clean beans! I cannot exspress that enough!
clean beans by pouring a small amount in ur hand at a time. look for white beans that have brown on them, black on them, excessivly wrinkly, etc. good beans will be white, may or may not have slight wrinkling.. see pictures..
place picked good beans in a large pan. run water over beans and swish them around with your hand to wash the dirt, debree from the beans.. pour out dirty water and repeat until water comes out clear.
keep beans in pan and fill pan 3/4 way with cold water.
place on high heat and add bacon grease some salt and some pepper. (you'll finish seasoning it later.)
bring to a rolling bowl and lower heat to a gentle simmer.
simmer for an hour and add more water as needed. stir.
continue simmering, stirring, adding water as needed until they are tender about another half hour/45min.
keep simmering but now do not add any more water.. u now want it to thicken. stir frequently as u do not want them to scortch (burn)
once its starting to thicken taste it.. add more salt and pepper to your liking..
by now it should be near perfect. turn off heat and let sit 15 min. to thicken rest of the way.
then serve with your fvorite meal.
also great as a snack or lunch! place a slice of bread on a plate and pour hot beans ontop.. then eat with a spoon or fork! yumm!
this is what my family has been making for generations.. we came from a poor southern family.. and they couldn't afford meat like ham to put in here.. orriginally made using butter it has changed over the years to bacon grease as it gives it a much better flavor..I hope u enjoy the poor side.. :) lol
serves about 6 as a side
essentially just about any dry bean can be made this way. each kind of bean adds its unique flavor.. brown pinto beans are done this very way.. also on my profile called poor mans brown beans.. :)
