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Depending on your market, typical packet sizes can vary. If you get bacon in pounds, 2 pounds isn’t exactly a kilogram, but it’s close enough.

This has been modified slightly from last posting.

The Core

• 1 kg (~ 2 pounds) best bacon you can afford, cut to bite size
• Half large white onion, diced small
• Half large green pepper, diced small
• Two stalks of celery, diced small
• 3- your taste cloves garlic.
• 900 g (a little less than two pounds, but it’s okay if you round up) dried beans (black or kidney)
• 1.5 + L / 1500 ml (6- 6 and a quarter cups) broth or stock of choice (vegetable or chicken for me), with water if needed (here, a typical broth carton is 900 ml, so I add 600 ml [2 and a half cups or so] of water). Low salt is good here. If you add canned tomatoes, don’t add water.

Optional Adds: * 300 g (ten ounces) Chorizo Dried Sausage (not pre sliced) cut into cubes * between 340- 750 g (1 and a half to three cups) corn— canned, frozen, fresh cooked off the cob. Drain canned corn, and remember grams and ml are easily interchangeable and the water volume for canned is usually negligible. * 796 ml/ 28 ounces canned diced or crushed tomatoes. * Salt and pepper. I find seasoning just before serving best for this, and this batch is made for a single to divide it.

Hardware

• Knife
• Instapot
• Can opener
• Cutting board
• Bowls for your prepared ingredients and a metal one to hold cooked ingredients.
• Wooden spoon for stirring

Set it up

If you soak your beans, put them in a bowl to do so over night or while you’re at work.

Cut your bacon into bite size pieces or two bite size. It will shrink in cooking. I like it small. Into its own bowl.

Dice the half of a large white onion small, but not too fine. Bowl it. Dice the green pepper. These two can share a bowl.

Dice the stalks of celery. Their own bowl.

Garlic. Smash and dice. I usually use six or so cloves. You either know what’s enough garlic for you or you’ll figure it out, arguing garlic is arguing theology. Interesting with the right people, but prone to fights.

Get out your broth/ stock. If you’re adding water, pre- measure it. I have this old coffee mug I use for such add ins. Again, if you’re adding tomatoes, stick to the broth alone.

Stock has more gelatin in it, and gives a different mouth feel. Both broth and stock work.

Get your Chorizo Dried Sausage (not pre sliced) cut into cubes. You want the dry cured for this, not the ones suited to a bun. Not too small. Big enough to cover your thumbnail.

If canned, drain your corn. You can leave it in the can. Frozen or cooked and removed from the cob by you, measure and bowl it.

Open the tomatoes.

The Cooking

Set your Instapot to saute on the medium setting. Toss in bacon while it’s heating up. Render the fat from the bacon until it’s shrunk, but still flexible. You’ll want to give it a minute, stir, keep an eye on it. If you’re using chorizo, add it now. Continue rending until the bacon is just crisping and changing colour. Reset your Instapot to the low saute setting. Remove the meat to the metal bowl, leaving the fat.

Add the celery. You're sweating here, not sauteing. We're not browning, just softening. Once the celery has had a bit of a head start and started softening, add the other two aromatics (onions, peppers) to the instapot. Keep an eye on it, you want want all the veg soft but not browned. Once all the aromatics start yielding to your spoon, add the garlic. You want to let it just get aromatic, which can take as little as fifteen seconds. Follow your nose. Ignore the toucan.

Garlic’s good? Turn off the Instapot. Add half the stock. Stir a bit. Get the meat back in.

Eddie, are we going to drain the fat at any point?

Good question, you brilliant person in italics. Depends. Leave the fats in? The fat will emulsify in while we cook the beans. These are saucy beans. Take it out? Less saucy. I leave it in.

Drain your beans. Add to the pot. Add the corn and tomatoes, if you like. Add the rest of the stock, and water if you’re sans tomato. Stir.

Lid on. Lock it. Make sure your pressure valve is shut. On my instapot, I cook this on the soup preset, medium cook length. Let the pressure go down naturally. I have left this for an hour on “keep warm” after the cook before tending to it.

Freezes well. Use an equal amount of mix to the uncooked measure of your rice for a great beans and rice mix. Add to a soup stock for a quick soup. I’ve made divine fried rice with this.