MAYOCOBA BEANS RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven add bay leaves and pepper bacon. Cook over medium heat until bacon bits are crisp. Reserve bacon grease.
• Add 1-teaspoon Spanish Paprika, onions, carrots, celery and peppers. Season with 1-teaspoon salt 1-teaspoon pepper. Saute vegetables until tender 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, fresh herbs and saute 1-2 minutes. Add remaining Spanish Paprika and stir vegetables to combine.
• Add La Rioja Alta wine and reduce by half.
• Add ham stock, ham shanks, Mayocoba beans, red potatoes and 1/2 cup cilantro. Bring to a full boil and reduce to s simmer for 1 1/2-hours or until beans are cooked. 30-minutes before beans are cooked add diced Black Forest Ham.
• Remove soup from heat. Discard bay leaves and ham shanks. Remove any ham from shanks and add to soup.
• Season soup with fresh cracked black pepper and fine sea salt to taste. Serve soup in warm bowls.
• Garnish soup with Fresh Chopped Cilantro and fine diced Red Spanish Onions.

Steps:

• Sort through the beans and discard any rocks or shriveled beans. Rinse and drain well.
• Add beans to a pot and cover with 2-3 quarts of water, or so the water level is 2" above the beans. Add the roughly chopped onion and 2-3 tablespoons of bacon drippings (or lard). 
• Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover. Let simmer for 1.5-2 hours.  Ensure that the water level is well above the beans by adding more water as they cook if necessary.  
• Start tasting them after 1 1/2 hours. If they are hard or grainy they need a little more time.
• Once cooked add 1 teaspoon of salt and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.  I also added a pinch of Mexican oregano at this point.  
• Give a final taste for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.  I added another generous pinch, so that is about 2 teaspoons total.   Serve immediately.
• If you want, portion them into 1 cup sized bags along with plenty of the broth for freezing.