Chicos and Beans!

Chicos and Beans, Ese! They go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But what ARE they, and why are they so good?

Chicos are as far as I know an ingredient peculiar to northeastern New Mexico. Chicos are sweet corn which is roasted in an outdoor wood-fired adobe oven called an Horno (pronounced or-no, as rhyming with “porno,” but don't make that association with the older generation.) The result is that the corn is preserved, but it keeps its sweetness and the sugars in the corn are caramelized, resulting in a wonderful, distinctive flavor. It is best to buy them from someone who has roasted them, as one never really knows how old the ones in the stores may be. Just like beans, if they are more than a year old, you have to cook them forever to make them tender.

The classic winter repast of chicos and beans is about the sweetness of the ingredients and how they harmonize with each other. The chicos provide the sweetness of roasted corn, the smoked ham hocks provide the sweetness of pork, and the beans have an earthy sweetness of their own. The chicos also provide a wonderful contrast in texture with the tender pork and soft, creamy beans. Chicos and beans, besides being New Mexico soul food, is fantastic comfort food for a cold winter evening.

Recipe

½ pound chicos
1 pound pinto, bolita or anazazi beans, washed
2 smoked ham hocks
2 large yellow onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
bacon fat or olive oil
10 cups of water
Salt and Pepper to taste

To Serve-

Chopped roasted green chiles, Hatch preferably.

Put the chicos to soak in water to more than cover for a full day. The next morning (this takes a long time to cook) put the chopped onions and garlic in a large pot (like a stock pot or menudo pot) and saute gently until the onions are translucent but not brown. Add the ham hocks, bay leaves, beans, chicos with their soaking liquid, and water. DO NOT ADD SALT! Salt makes beans tough, never add it until the beans are tender.

Simmer slowly, stirring every once in awhile, for about three hours. What you want is to cook the mixture until the beans become soft, the skins split, and the fiber and starch from the beans thicken the cooking liquid and make it creamy. When this happens, remove the ham hocks, bone them, chop the meat (and skin if you like) and return to the pot. Now you can salt it to taste, and add black pepper as well.

Offer chopped roasted green chiles when serving, so guests can add their own if they choose.