Charro Beans

Method

1. rest10 min
   hot water, off heat, or 8 h cold soak
   pinto beans covered by 2 in of just-boiled water — a soak is optional insurance, not a requirement; it mostly buys back 20–30 min of simmer and evens out beans of different ages so they finish together
2. simmer90 min
   bare simmer, lid ajar
   drained beans + water + bay leaf + half the salt, topping up with hot water to keep them covered. Salt from the start is fine and seasons the interior; acid is not — no tomato, no beer, no lime yet. Cook until a bean crushes to paste against the roof of your mouth with no chalky core
3. fry8 min
   medium-low, cold pan start
   bacon, starting cold so the fat renders out before the meat browns — you want the rendered fat as the cooking medium and the bacon crisp, not seized and leathery
4. saute6 min
   medium, in the bacon fat
   + onion + jalapeño, until the onion is translucent and the edges just gold; add chorizo here if using and break it up so it fries rather than steams
5. saute2 min
   medium
   + garlic + cumin + oregano, only until fragrant — garlic in hot fat goes from sweet to acrid in about 90 seconds, and there is no fixing it after
6. deglaze4 min
   medium-high
   + beer + tomato, scraping the fond off the pan bottom and letting the raw alcohol boil off; the tomato should collapse and lose its bright red edge
7. simmer25 min
   low, uncovered
   tender beans + the whole skillet, scraped in with its fat + remaining salt + black pepper. Now the acid is harmless — the skins are already soft. Uncovered so the broth reduces and takes on body from the starch the beans have shed; charro beans are soupy, but the liquid should coat a spoon, not run off it
8. season2 min
   off heat
   + cilantro stirred in at the last moment so it stays green and grassy, then taste for salt — beans absorb it as they sit and will read flat if you seasoned only at the start. Lime at the table