Chef John's Santa Maria-Style Beans Recipe

Place pink beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain.

Place drained beans in a stockpot with enough cold water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until almost completely tender about 1 hour 45 minutes.

While beans are simmering cook and stir bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until cooked through but not crispy 5 to 7 minutes. Add ham; cook and stir until ham is heated through about 1 minute. Stir garlic into ham mixture and cook until garlic is fragrant about 1 minute more. Add tomatoes 1/2 cup water ketchup sugar dry mustard paprika chili powder salt chipotle chile powder and oregano. Bring to a simmer reduce heat to low and cook until flavors blend about 30 minutes.

Drain beans reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Combine beans reserved liquid and tomato mixture in the beans stockpot; bring to a simmer reduce heat to low and cook stirring occasionally until beans are tender and mixture has thickened about 30 minutes.