Ok, ok. It’s beans, not wild meat. Hey, it uses venison stock. And it’s so good it’s a perfect side dish for many other recipes.
This method uses a pressure cooker. It works fast and great. If you prefer not to use a pressure cooker, just adapt this recipe to other methods. Google is your friend.
If using a pressure cooker, be sure to follow all the manufacturers instructions and safety precautions.
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quarts
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- 1 lb dry pinto or black beans - comes in 1 lb bags
- 2 quarts venison stock - Or substitute poultry, beef or pork stock.
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 5 cloves garlic - smashed and minced
- 1 white onion - sliced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lard - Can substitute other fats. See "Recipe Notes" for more info.
- to taste salt - wait to add this until the very end of the cook
- to taste cheese - best added on individual portions at serving time
- to taste Diced peppers - e.g. 6 jalapeno & 1 habanero
- 1 can Chipotles in adobo - Great flavor as well as heat.
- 1/2 tsp chipotle powder - Skip if you used the Chipotles in the line above.
Ingredients
Heat (see "Recipe Notes" below to dial back)
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- Rinse beans well, checking for surprise rocks, sticks or other nasties.
- Put beans and olive oil in pressure cooker, add olive oil, mix.
- Add stock
- Set cooker to 15 lbs and place on High burner. When it reaches 15lbs start a 30 minute timer and adjust the burner down until it just holds at 15lbs.
- While it’s cooking, dice onion and caramelize in lard — mixing occasionally as you dice the peppers and garlic.
- When the onions are nicely caramelized (browned) add peppers, garlic, cumin and chipotle. Cook a couple more minutes. If you used really hot peppers you’ll need a well ventilated kitchen. Even better, do it outdoors. Or delegate the task to an assistant you aren’t terribly fond of.
- When the 30 minutes is up turn off the burner and let the cooker cool on its own for at least 20 minutes.
- When you can safely open the cooker, meaning you KNOW the pressure is gone, add the caramelized mixture in to the beans and mix.
- Return to heat, bring back up to 15lbs pressure then cook 10 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and again let it depressurize on its own.
- Without draining any liquid, mix/mash/blend to your own taste.
I like it fairly well blended so I use an electric mixing stick and really get after it. Some prefer to mash lightly, leaving more beans and skins semi-intact. - Move the beans to a heavy pan to simmer on low heat.
Reduce to the desired consistency, stirring frequently. It will start out fairly liquid, but will begin to thicken.
It will set up considerably as it cools, so don’t reduce it too far or you won’t get that nice creamy consistency.
If it feels like it takes too long to get to the consistency you prefer, make a note and reduce the amount of stock next time. - After reducing, while still hot, add salt and ground pepper to taste.
- Serve right away, refrigerate for up to 4 days, or freeze in sealed containers.
- Sprinkle cheese on top of individual portions of hot beans just before serving.
Lard is the traditional fat for much Mexican cooking. Plain lard (rendered pork fat) is a comparatively healthy fat - but grocery store lard is hydrogenated, which degrades the health advantages. Google "home made lard" to see how simple it is to make yourself. Another good reason to make it yourself: Cracklins. If you don't have lard, substitute other cooking oil or clarified butter — maybe even ghee.
HOT HOT HOT! Yes, this recipe produces very spicy beans. To cool it down omit the habanero. To cool it down even more substitute anaheims or poblanos for the jalapenos. To cool it all the way reduce or eliminate the chipotles in adobo - but they bring a lot of flavor along with their heat.