https://www.homesicktexan.com/pinto-beans-aaron-franklin-barbecue/

His recipe is fairly simple. You soak the pintos with diced onion and a blend of spices, and then cook the beans with chopped smoked brisket. Of course, when you’re making these at home, you probably won’t have Franklin Barbecue brisket (unless you have leftovers, but I understand that rarely happens). But when I made the recipe with some local barbecue, the beans still turned out excellent.

Aaron’s instructions are for stovetop cooking, but I found that the recipe also works in a slow cooker, too. The most important thing if you choose to do it that way is to remove the lid for the last two hours of cooking so the broth can reduce.

Aaron Franklin’s pinto beans
Servings8
AuthorAdapted by Lisa Fain from Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto
Ingredients
1 pound dried pinto beans
1/4 medium yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup chile powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup chopped smoked brisket
Instructions
Rinse the pinto beans and remove any rocks. Place the beans, onion, chili powder, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin in a large pot. Cover with 2 inches of water, stir until the spices are well distributed, and then soak the beans uncovered for 8 hours. Alternatively, you can bring the pot to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let them quick soak for 1 hour.
To cook the beans, add the brisket to the pot. (Do not drain the soaking liquid.) You want there to be at least an inch and a half of water above the beans, so add more water to the pot if needed. Bring the pot to a boil, then turn down the heat down to low, cover the pot, and then gently simmer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove the cover and then continue to cook the beans until they’re tender, which will depend on the age of the beans. This can happen anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours.
If you want to make these in the slow cooker, after soaking, cook them covered on low for 6 hours, then remove the lid and continue to cook on low for 2 more hours.
Notes
If you’re not using kosher salt but table salt or sea salt instead,
reduce the amount of salt to 1 tablespoon, otherwise the beans may be
too salty.