Pinto Beans

This is one of our favorite winter meals.  I think we love it even more now that we live a long way from home and this just feels so southern and so much like home.  The key to eating pinto beans is having cornbread to go with them!  My cornbread recipe will post on Friday.  We didn't eat a lot of pinto beans in my house growing up but I did eat them with my grandmother.   One thing she taught me was to eat them with onions and ketchup on top.  Gray did not grow up eating them with ketchup.  To each his own!  Anyways, this is my recipe for pinto beans.  After years of tweaking it, this is the recipe we have stuck with for a while and we both love it.

1lb dried pinto beans
6 cups of chicken broth OR 3 cups of chicken stock and 2 cups of water
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup onion (diced)
3 strips bacon (any kind of smoked bacon works best)
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup (optional)

Soak beans according to directions.  Place the beans, diced onion, salt and strips of bacon in a pot.  Pour the chicken broth over them beans.  Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 to 7 minutes.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cover.  Cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add in the worcestershire sauce and pepper.  Keep at a simmer and cover again and cook for another hour.  Stir in the ketchup (optional) and cook for 30 minutes to an hour.  Serve with fresh diced onion and/or ketchup.