Ranch Wives Cooking Club - Branding Beans

This weekend we branded calves.
I got off easy and just had to make the beans and several desserts.

In the past, I've always done my beans in the crock pot, but then one day I decided to try them in my dutch oven, and I'll never go back.

I cooked A LOT of beans this weekend, but I'll give you the method for one pound of pintos.

The night before, rinse, and sort any bad beans out.
Then cover and soak them in water overnight.


Prepare a half pound of bacon per pound of beans.
I cooked my bacon in the oven.
I lined baking sheets with foil, placed the bacon on the sheets, placed in a cold oven and turned the oven to 400 degrees.
I lost track of time, but I think it took around 15 minutes.


Place the beans into your dutch oven, cover with water and add the crumbled bacon.

Bring the beans to a boil and boil for two minutes.
Turn the heat off and let them sit, covered, for an hour.


Remember, the directions I am giving you are for one pound of beans, the pictures represent more.

Dice up one large onion, one jalapeno and one clove garlic.
Saute with butter until tender.



Add the mixture to the beans, along with a generous dose of salt and pepper.


Then cover the beans and simmer until done.
This can vary widely depending on amount and conditions.  In my experience, sometimes a pot of beans just cooks faster than others?!?
These got done pretty quickly, around an hour.

The picture below is just after adding the onions, jalapenos and garlic, they have not simmered yet.  Once the beans have simmered, they'll look a little plumper and the onion and jalapeno will be cooked down even more.  I got busy and didn't get a picture of the finished product.


These are super easy, and along with beef and potatoes, are sure to please a crowd of hungry cowboys!