(pepper to taste) large white onion, diced. cook in a slow cooker until the ham falls off the bone and the beans are soft. Like chile beans, they taste better after a night in the fridge.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Put pinto beans, ham and water in the pot and cook overnight. Maybe add some salt if the ham isn't salty enough. Check occasionally and add water if necessary to keep the beans covered.

Where I'm from you don't put anything else in your pinto beans. No other spices, nothing green, no onions, nothing.

Soak the beans(pinto, don't use black beans for this recipe)overnight in cold water, this take some of the "gas" out of 'em. Drain and put in a dutch oven. DON'T use water, but mix yourself up some bullion and slow cook them in that. Add a ham bone, fatback, some bacon, whatever you have, I like to use a hock. Salt and pepper to taste. Don't overcook them. Serve some scallions(green onions) on the side, or if you know what they are and can pick them, get a mess of ramps. It goes without saying that cornbread(no one I know would ever use "yellow" corn meal) and sorghum are a required side. You'll need to dress the ramps with some vinegar, if you serve them.

Now if you really want to get compliments, once the beans are done, leave them in the dutch oven and drain off most of the liquid (save this),douse them in sorghum, add a little homemade chili sauce, and bake them in the oven. I guarantee people will be licking the pot with their fingers to get every little bit. Cook up some collards(remember that liquid you judiciously saved?), and serve them with the beans and cornbread(of course) with some vinegar on the side to dress the collards to taste.

Bon appetite!

Like loading a favorite load there are many variations and personal preferences.

I like beans with and without greens, onions "seasoning" and red chili.

Basic ham and beans from the cheapskate cook

Take all the leftovers skin, fat and bones, pieces from a ham cooked for one of the big festive meals and throw in the pot.

Add water to the ham leftovers and start it to heat.

Sort, clean and wash 2-6 cups of beans (whites or pintos ( I like both, my wife will not eat white beans (navy/great northern)).
Put beans in the pot and cover with water.

Cook til done adding water as needed and to personal tastes.

Whe the beans are done, set then aside for a while while you cook up a batch of corn bread. Be sure to get skillit hot enough to form a bottom crust on the cornbread batter as it cooks in the oven.

Fresh hot buttered cornbread and beans is a meal fit for a king!

Throw in a bowl of greens if ya like, onions too . . .

It's yours, eat it like ya want to!