Pinquito Beans

If one side defines Santa Maria barbecue, it is this one. Pinquito beans are a small pink bean grown almost nowhere but the Santa Maria Valley, and they have shared the plate with tri tip for as long as the tradition has existed. This is not a pot of pinto beans with a new name. It is the bean the plate was built around.

Tri tip is rich, smoky, and charred from the red-oak fire. The beans are the counterweight. Simmered low with garlic, tomato, and a little heat, they land savory and mild, never sweet like a baked bean. That restraint is the point. They soak up the meat drippings and the salsa without fighting the beef for attention.

You will not find them in most grocery stores outside the Central Coast, which is exactly why they belong on a site about the cut they grew up next to. If you can get dried pinquitos, use them. The flavor is worth the mail order.

Start them long before the tri tip goes on. They want a slow simmer and only get better holding on low while the fire does its work. Time it so they are ready when the meat comes off to rest.

Serve them where they belong: next to the tri tip, the fresh salsa, the grilled bread, and a simple green salad. That is the Santa Maria plate, and the beans are the part that says where you are.

The traditional pot is simple: soak the beans overnight, then simmer them 2 to 3 hours with bacon or ham hock, tomato sauce, garlic, and spices. Pork fat is considered essential, and some cooks add a can of beer. The finished beans should be creamy inside but still intact, thick and saucy enough to sit on the plate without running. If you can’t get pinquitos, pink beans are the closest stand-in, though they don’t match the texture.