My mother gave us her old pressure cooker, and that’s how I cook these. I’m sure they’d be just as good slow cooked too, so don’t worry if you don’t have a pressure cooker. We try to limit our sodium intake, so I skip the smoked neck bones. If sodium is not a concern to you, I suggest you substitute smoked neck bones for the fresh. This is So good! I like to put these between two corn tortillas with some Mexican melting cheese.

Ingredients

1 pound dried black beans; washed and picked through
2 pounds fresh pork neck bones
2 jalapenos; seeded and chopped
1 yellow onion; chopped
3 sticks of celery; chopped
6 cups of chicken stock (Water will do if you don’t have the stock.)
4 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic; minced
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in the pressure cooker. Add onion, garlic, jalapeno, celery and neck bones.

Cook for a while stirring frequently. Try to get a bit of brown going on the neck bones. Add beans and stir for a minute or two.

Add stock or water, bay leaves, and black pepper. Cover and lock pressure cooker and bring up to speed at 15 pounds. Cook for 30 minutes; then let pressure die down naturally for 5-10 minutes. Run cold water over lid to cook off and carefully remove pressure regulator.

If the beans are still a bit hard, simmer gently with the lid slightly ajar. Be careful not to boil dry.

Remove the pork meat to a separate place and pick out the bones. Shred the meat and return to the bean pot. Serve with plenty of tortillas, salsa, hot sauce, and perhaps a cilantro garnish. Enjoy!