Pit Beans
Pinto beans, onion, and molasses in a pan set directly under the shoulder, catching every drop the pork lets go for the last three hours of the cook.
Recipe to cook
Pit-Roasted Pit Beans with Pork Drippings
Dutch oven on the kettle at 350°F, lid off, for 90 minutes ([roast](method:roast)). No drippings, so add the chopped pork and a slice of bacon on top.
1.5 hrsCook Time
350°FPit Temp
Charcoal onlyWood
—Target Internal
EasyDifficulty
Gather
Ingredients
Everything you need, whichever way you cook it.
- 4 cans (15 oz) pinto or navy beans, drained, or 1 lb dry beans cooked
- 1/2 lb bacon or leftover pork belly, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp barbecue rub
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup stock or water
- Chopped leftover pork, a cup or two (optional)
Before the pit
Prep
Start with cooked beans, canned or from dry, and build the base on the burner. The pit finishes them.
Render the bacon in a deep foil pan or dutch oven on the burner, then soften the onion, pepper, and garlic in the fat (sauté).
Stir in everything else, beans last, and bring to a simmer. Looser than you want; it thickens on the pit.
Kettle oven
The Cook
The stand-alone version, when there is no shoulder above them.
Two-pile fire at 350°F, dutch oven uncovered in the middle, chopped pork stirred in and bacon laid on top.
Roast 75 to 90 minutes until thick and dark at the edges, stirring once.
Carry to the Finish.
Bring it home
Finish & Serve
Stir, taste, and serve from the pan with the bark bits on top.
Stir the drippings through and taste for salt and vinegar.
Serve from the pan. Better the next day.
In this cook
Techniques & Methods
Every technique this cook uses — tap one to learn it.
- Roastbeginner
- Sauté & Simmerbeginner
Gear for this cook
Roasted Setup
Cooking Thermometer
A grate-level leave-in probe is the only way to know what the pit is really doing
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