I have lots of ham left over from yesterday, and a craving for good beans and ham... Also have pinto beans and black beans in the cupboard. Anyone have a good recipe for use with a slow cooker?

My mouth is watering already...

JD

(pepper to taste) large white onion, diced. cook in a slow cooker until the ham falls off the bone and the beans are soft. Like chile beans, they taste better after a night in the fridge.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Put pinto beans, ham and water in the pot and cook overnight. Maybe add some salt if the ham isn't salty enough. Check occasionally and add water if necessary to keep the beans covered.

Where I'm from you don't put anything else in your pinto beans. No other spices, nothing green, no onions, nothing.

I may have to do that with my left over hambone.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

I have to stay in the fridge the nigh after I have had the beans for dinner.

Soak the beans(pinto, don't use black beans for this recipe)overnight in cold water, this take some of the "gas" out of 'em. Drain and put in a dutch oven. DON'T use water, but mix yourself up some bullion and slow cook them in that. Add a ham bone, fatback, some bacon, whatever you have, I like to use a hock. Salt and pepper to taste. Don't overcook them. Serve some scallions(green onions) on the side, or if you know what they are and can pick them, get a mess of ramps. It goes without saying that cornbread(no one I know would ever use "yellow" corn meal) and sorghum are a required side. You'll need to dress the ramps with some vinegar, if you serve them.

Now if you really want to get compliments, once the beans are done, leave them in the dutch oven and drain off most of the liquid (save this),douse them in sorghum, add a little homemade chili sauce, and bake them in the oven. I guarantee people will be licking the pot with their fingers to get every little bit. Cook up some collards(remember that liquid you judiciously saved?), and serve them with the beans and cornbread(of course) with some vinegar on the side to dress the collards to taste.

Bon appetite!

Jan's laughing too! You fun crazy man, I miss your company already.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

ham beans are historically a white bean....use navy or Great Northern. I made a pot yesterday....my mouth was watering all day smelling them ham beans. They did taste as good as they smelled....especially with the skillet of cornbread I made to go with 'em.

The navy bean and/or Great Northern(just another variety of Navy bean or "pea bean") lends itself well to soups and such. The larger, softer flesh of the pintos, lends well to absorbing any flavor one would wish to impart.

I can assure you, walk into any cafe or eatery throughout the Southern Appalachains or Cumberland Plateau and order a bowl of beans and you'll get a bowl of pinto beans, flavored with some kind of "pig part", a little bowl of diced onion on the side and a slab of cornbread.

Historically, the pinto bean was a major source of protein during the winter, throughout the Southern Appalachains, and probably throughout the entire Southeast.

If I was going to make a ham and bean soup, the Navy bean might be the better choice.

Around here, beans frequently are "the" meal. As such, the pinto is the better choice.

Having said all this, I guess it's really just another one of those "regional" things. There's really no "bad" bean, they're all very good for you, unless you suffer from gout, then you might want to eat them sparingly.

oy..

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Multiple applications of .1mg Colchicine (Colcrys) until something happens.

per bottle... I love that it works, but miss the pre reformulated 10 per bottle colchazine.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

I don't think I've ever heard of that.

The purists will tell you what you can and cannot put in chili, but I put ketchup in mine. :D

We can buy 10 lb burlap bags of beans harvested just last fall. Black beans as well. I'm big fan of ranch beans made with pinto's. Vitamin 'n mineral wise, one can live off beans 'n cornbread. Try tossing in a huge chopped up bunch of kale in your next pot of white beans.....very good and very good for you.

Like loading a favorite load there are many variations and personal preferences.

I like beans with and without greens, onions "seasoning" and red chili.

Basic ham and beans from the cheapskate cook

Take all the leftovers skin, fat and bones, pieces from a ham cooked for one of the big festive meals and throw in the pot.

Add water to the ham leftovers and start it to heat.

Sort, clean and wash 2-6 cups of beans (whites or pintos ( I like both, my wife will not eat white beans (navy/great northern)).
Put beans in the pot and cover with water.

Cook til done adding water as needed and to personal tastes.

Whe the beans are done, set then aside for a while while you cook up a batch of corn bread. Be sure to get skillit hot enough to form a bottom crust on the cornbread batter as it cooks in the oven.

Fresh hot buttered cornbread and beans is a meal fit for a king!

Throw in a bowl of greens if ya like, onions too . . .

It's yours, eat it like ya want to!