Pinto Beans And Ham Hocks I Made It

Pinto Beans and Ham Hocks

mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago
By: Rahamby

These were some great beans!! I was surprised that I did not need to add any bouillon cubes, it had tons of flavor on it's own. I used some nice meaty ham hocks from my meat market and some fresh pinto beans, so my cook time went down to about 1 hr. I was happy to see tomatoes called for in this, and I used about 8 tomatoes called Indigo Rose, they are small tomatoes about the size between a cherry and a small roma, chopped up. Not sure what the baking soda did?! Didn't do anything bad though at least! The amount of molasses is perfect, not making these too sweet, which I was worried about. Forget to stir in the refried beans at the end, but they were delicious without :)

Pinto Beans And Ham Hocks/saved
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pointsevenout 9 years ago said:

Baking soda breaks down the outer skin of the bean, allowing the bean to cook faster. Too much soda and you could have a pot of mush.
I think the author is using the baking soda as a degassifier because it can be subbed using epazote, which is also a digestion aid.

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frankieanne 9 years ago said:

Oh, those look sooo good!! I do love beans. What a delicious looking bowl of food. I've always thought of the baking soda add as a degassifier. I didn't even know it broke down the outer skin. Learned something new today!

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

Very interesting information Points! Well I need to add in some baking soda every time I cook beans then, saves me from my husbands aftermath lol!!

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Yummy, nice bowl. Love my bean and cornbread suppers.

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NPMarie 9 years ago said:

I ditto that! Love pinto beans & cornbread..reminds me of my Mom, we had that often growing up:) A great & inexpensive meal for sure..lovely pic Michelle!

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

Thanks ladies! My plan was to make corn bread with this, but then realized I was out of corn meal :( Darnit! So I whipped up a batch of Copycat Red Lobsters Cheddar Cheese Biscuits instead, love those biscuits!!

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