Making Pintos on a Sunday

My family members have been making pinto beans for years. It is a long, tedious process. First, you must sort through the beans, wash them, clean them, and soak them. All this before you can even begin to cook them. Some family members soak the dry beans overnight, some for a few hours,  And, now fast forward to 2018. Beans no longer need soaking and can be cooked in half a day (2-4 hours).

So today, I have a large meal planned for my son in law, Adan's birthday. He personally asked that I prepare Mexican rice, enchiladas and pinto beans. He also requested I have it ready for lunch. I decided to cook the pintos in my Bella!

I added 8 cups of water, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 pound of dry beans, a piece of salted pork, and the secret ingredient that my Mother in law taught me to add LARD! Yes, lard. The lard provides flavor and gives your pinto beans a pretty color, plus adding oil and or lard will keep the pressure cooker from creating too much foam or bubbles.

I placed Bella on pressure cook for 30 minutes. In no time flat, I could smell the pintos and the garlic as they became infused with the rest of the ingredients.

After Bella stopped and the steam evaporated, I checked the beans to see if they were done. Most of the pintos were tender, but a few were al dente, so I started it again for another 10  minutes.

And....drum roll...., 10 minutes later my pintos were perfect. My Sil loved his birthday celebration and loved the beans.