Abbey's Pinto Bean Sludge

From Orion, July/August 2006

Victoria McCabe 19 May 1973

Dear Victoria, Herewith my bit for your cookbook. This recipe is not original but a variation on an old (perhaps Ancient) Southwestern dish. It has also been a favorite of mine and was for many years the staple, the sole staple, of my personal nutrition program. (I am six feet three and weigh 190 pounds, sober.)

I call it Hardcase Pinto Bean Sludge.

1. Take one fifty-pound sack Colorado pinto beans. Remove stones, cockleburrs, horseshit, ants, lizards, etc. Wash in clear cold crick water. Soak for twenty-fours in iron kettle or earthenware cooking pot. (DO NOT USE TEFLON, ALUMINUM OR PYREX CONTAINER. THIS WARNING CANNOT BE OVESTRESSED.)
2. Place kettle or pot with entire fifty lbs. of pinto beans on low fire and simmer for twenty-four hours. (DO NOT POUR OFF WATER IN WHICH BEANS HAVE BEEN IMMERSED. THIS IS IMPORTANT.) Fire must be of juniper, pinyon pine, mesquite or ironwood; other fuels tend to modify the subtle flavor and delicate aroma of Pinto Bean Sludge.
3. DO NOT BOIL.
4. STIR VIGOROUSLY FROM TIME TO TIME WITH WOODEN SPOON OR IRON LADLE. (Do not disregard these instructions.)