Texas barbecue beans

During our recent road trip to Baton Rouge, we had occasion to dine in Amarillo, TX at Rudy's.
It was a great place to sample Texas barbeque, while we were in awe of the brisket, we also fell in love with the Texas barbeque beans.

Upon returning home, Bob begged me to make them for him. I did my usual internet research for recipes. I was astonished to find that most recipes used a cans of pork & beans as a base. We had recently been give a huge bag of pinto beans, so there was no way I was going to use canned beans. I got out my pintos, rinsed them and soaked them overnight !!

Here is my take on Texas Barbeque Beans.
Let's talk about my modifications...lots of recipes called for the burnt ends of brisket, really ?? I guess in Texas they burn their brisket and always have those burnt ends around. Instead I used almost a pound of cooked bacon , I say almost because someone stole a few slices ;-)

The recipes also called for one 14 ounce can of whole tomatoes. I make my own tomato products, so I used 1 cup of my roasted tomato sauce and 1 cup of whole peeled tomatoes that I had frozen from last season. I am guessing any combination of fresh, canned or frozen will be fine.

Ingredients
    •    1 pound ( about 2 cups) dried pinto beans
    •    8 cups water
    •    1 pound bacon (or 2 cups brisket burnt ends, chopped)
    •    1 cup roasted tom sauce, 1 cup whole toms(or one 14-ounce can whole tomatoes)
    •    1 large onion, chopped
    •    1 cup barbecue sauce
    •    6 cloves garlic, minced
    •    1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
    •    1 tablespoon chili powder
    •    1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    •    1 teaspoon salt
    •    2 teaspoon ground cumin
     
1) Wash beans and pour into large saucepan or dutch oven.
2) Chop the onion and pepper and garlic, add to the beans.

 3) Add the barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, cumin, and chili powder.

4) Add the tomatoes.

5) Bring to a boil while stirring. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for two hours, covered. Stir occasionally, bringing up the beans from the bottom.  A slow cooker/crockpot would work too.

6) Beans are done when soft but still hold their shape. The end product is a soupy, flavorful bean stew. I served it with corn muffins and raw veggies !

This is definitely the kind of recipe that begs for your own modifications and gets better  the longer the flavors can meld together. It was great several days later. To make it vegetarian, use fake bacon, soyrizo or liquid smoke to replace the bacon.

Grilling season has begun !

Here is the photographer for this post taking a selfie.

I have discovered flank steak !!
We don't eat a lot of meat on a daily basis, I do get the hankering every so often for some nice red meat. Bob and I usually will share half a pound of flank steak, that's 4 ounces each. I have been getting the flank steak at my favorite butcher , El Salchichero.
I prefer my meat to be local and grass fed.

The first time I made this version of grilled flank steak, I didn't realize it would come out so tasty. The next time Genna came home, I made it again, this time with photos and measurements.

Here is the naked flank steak, it's about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.
I made this great rub to put on it.

Laurie's Flank Steak Rub

3 teaspoons powdered mustard
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon dried summer savory or basil
2-3 teaspoons salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, store whatever you don't use in a bottle for next time. If making the rub is just too much bother you can use whatever rubs you have laying around or just add some salt and dried thyme to chili powder.

Lightly rub the steak with olive oil, then rub on the rub. You can put it on thick or thin depending on your tastes. Be sure to do both sides.

Allow your grill to heat up before placing the steak on it. For a 1/2 inch steak, 3 minutes a side on direct heat is plenty. One of the recipes I read had me leave it on the grill but with indirect heat for a minute each side. Slightly longer for a thicker steak.

It is very important to let your steak rest for at least 5 minutes once you have removed it from the grill. Resting will keep the juices from flowing out when you cut it. Bob read me this long explanation about why this happens that had water balloons and cells in it, just trust me*.  Set the timer, go set the table, finish the salad and the side dishes.

Now comes another very important part, cutting the meat against the grain. I recommend looking carefully at your meat before you cook it. As you can see above the grill marks might throw you off but if you look beyond those marks you can see the long striation that are horizontal in this photograph.
 Cutting the meat in the other direction with cut those long fibers and make your steak more tender and easy to chew.

Now you are ready to eat that delicious steak. My photographer was so ready she forgot to take a photo of the meat plated with Laurie's Potatoes and a huge green salad.

Here she is taking another selfie as she tests the raspberry crisp I made for dessert.


* Bob sent me this brief explanation about resting the steak:

"As is the case with so much to do with cooking steaks, there is a key temperature involved in resting a steak. The idea with resting is basically allowing the hot steak to cool to about 120° to 125°F. At that temperature, the cells have relaxed enough so that the juices can flow back in. "

 He added this admonishment:
 DO NOT POKE THE STEAK WITH A MEAT THERMOMETER.
The juices will run out and you will defeat your purposed. Instead just let the damn thing rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting it.