P
Mexican
Pinto Beans: New Mexican Preparation
Pinto beans — the daily staple of New Mexican cooking — are cooked in a manner almost identical to the Mexican frijoles de olla but with specific New Mexican seasonings: red chile, cumin, and often bacon or salt pork. The slow, long cook from dried beans is non-negotiable — the specific creamy, slightly mealy texture of a correctly cooked pinto bean is the product of the extended cook and cannot be replicated with canned beans.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
450 g
dried pinto beans
sorted, any shrivelled beans or stones removed, rinsed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 g
salt pork or bacon
or an equivalent measure of lard or bacon fat
Your own market
1–2
dried red chiles
whole, stems intact
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
ground cumin
Your own market
to taste
salt
added only when beans are fully soft
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Place the sorted, rinsed dried pinto beans in a heavy pot. Do not soak. Cover with cold water by at least 5 cm. Add the salt pork or bacon fat and the whole dried red chiles. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a slow, steady simmer. The surface should show only a gentle, intermittent bubble.
2
Add the cumin to the simmering pot. The fat in the pot carries the cumin's aromatic compounds through the liquid over the long cook. Continue to simmer, covered, replenishing water as needed to keep the beans submerged. The pot should smell of earthy chile and warm spice within the first hour.
3
Cook low and slow — this is where the dish lives or dies. The extended cook, and only the extended cook, produces the specific creamy, slightly mealy interior that defines a correctly prepared New Mexican pinto bean. Press a bean between thumb and forefinger at intervals: the bean must yield completely, with no resistant core. Some beans will begin to break down and thicken the pot liquid to a creamy broth; this is correct and desirable.
4
Only when the beans are completely soft throughout, season with salt to taste. Stir, allow the pot to simmer a further few minutes so the salt is absorbed evenly, then taste again. The broth should be thick, savoury, and faintly smoky from the fat; the whole dried chiles will have softened and surrendered their earthiness without making the pot spicy.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Dried pinto beans sourced from a single New Mexican growing region — Chimayó or the Rio Grande valley — rendered lard rendered from heritage-breed pork, and whole dried red chiles of known provenance such as Hatch or Chimayó.
02
Estate — High-quality dried pintos purchased from a specialty mill or co-op with a known harvest year, good-quality bacon fat rendered at home, and whole dried New Mexican red chiles from a reliable chile dealer.
03
Market — Dried pinto beans from a reputable bulk or grocery supplier with good turnover (fresher dried beans cook more evenly), commercial bacon or salt pork, and dried red chiles from a Latin grocery.
04
House — Supermarket dried pinto beans, streaky bacon in place of salt pork, and ground red chile in the absence of whole pods — the dish remains honest, though some depth of flavour and textural nuance is lost.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A bean pressed between thumb and forefinger yields completely with no resistant core — the skin gives, the interior is uniformly soft and slightly mealy.
◇Sight. Some beans have broken down at the edges, visibly thickening the pot liquid from thin and watery to a creamy, opaque broth.
◇Smell. The pot carries a warm, earthy aroma of softened dried chile and cumin, with a background note of rendered pork fat — no raw or starchy smell remains.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies in the long, uninterrupted simmer from dried beans: no shortened cook, no canned substitute can replicate the creamy, slightly mealy texture that only the extended heat produces.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace Distillery · Kentucky Bourbon Country
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year