My journey to the great state of Colorado began a long time ago. I think the year was 1973. I do know that Susie was a wee little tyke. She is the only child of mine that actually started and finished school in Pueblo. Sam finished here, but did not start. The other girls were sporatic as to where there roots really were. I just lived in a state of confusion. I finished school here by getting my degree in Accounting, but I never really graduated high school at all. But that all has nothing to do with the sacred Pinto Bean which is a staple of Colorado and an art that must be cultivated!
Back home on Strong Street, the beans were Navy beans. They were a staple and were cooked on the top of the old wood stove. If we were real lucky we had a ham bone to throw in for a bit of flavor. Winter or summer made no difference as to how we cooked. A wood stove was what kept us alive in the cold and fed us in the heat of the summer. But I digress.
When Charlie and I came to a parting of the ways, I knew I needed a job that paid more than cooking and waiting tables, so I got myself down to the Business College and signed up for the course that would give me my Accounting Degree. I worked for a construction company days as a bookkeeper, nights I went to school and late nights I waited tables at a place in Bessemer called Liz's Cafe. I know the older Pueblo people remember that place! When the bars shut down that was where they went to eat and I waited on them! I meet very few people now who were regulars, but once more I digress. Back to the Pinto Bean.
At that time the day cook was a lady named Angie. Angie was ageless in that I knew she was older, but age did not seem to matter than. Of course we became friends. As the day cook it was her job to keep the kitchen in staples for the afternoon and evening. Every day she cooked a very big kettle of pinto beans. They were delivered in a 50 pound gunny sack and had to be sorted and cleaned. Therein began my education in the fine art of the perfect refried bean!
She was also the breakfast cook so she also cooked orders as they were turned in to her. Huevous Ranchero's is a meal I had never heard of until I started at Liz's. The plate contains 2 eggs, hashbrowns, a spoonful of refried beans and tortilla. Everything is served with refried beans and covered with a genereous serving of Green CHile over the whole plate. The beans are in the burritoes, taco's and any other thing you choose to eat! As such they need to be perfect! So, here goes...
The can full of pinto beans is dumped onto a stainless steel table. Then begins the chore of touching every single bean and deeming it worthy of the pot! The bean must be complete with no loose skin, crack or off color. By very nature of the way beans are harvested, a rock sometimes shows up. Of course that is a no no! But Angie was Queen of the Bean and taught me how to quickly seperate the "wheat from the chaff," so to speak! I do not remember Angie ever having a day off while I was there. Surely she did.
When I first started there the matriach, Liz herself was just living in the back and not really working, though she did pop out from time to time. The resturant was run by her son and daughter in law. Later it was overseen by her granddaughter and her husband. Shortly after I left it was on it's downward spiral. People change and the mill was no longer the central part of Pueblo's world and the mill had been a mainstay of Liz's. But life goes on.
The building now sets vacant as do a lot of buildings down in the Bessemer area. I do know that area was called Bessemer because the mill was there and the process they made steel with was the Bessemer process. So anyway, time marches on!
I am now an old lady and do not even need my Accounting Degree. I would rather make cookies and take a walk along the ditch, but let me tell you this....when I cook beans, they are sorted and cleaned and cooked with a big spoonful of lard! Not shortening or bacon grease, but lard.!
After all I did learn at the tutelage of the master, Angie Whateverherlastnamewas!
Bon apetite!!!
