I made my mamas Gra this weekend and it was awesome.  Here it is for you to make. 

Ingredients 

2 cups of Red Pinto beans 

1 smoked pork shank 

1 half yellow or white onion minced 

1 cup of chopped carrots 

4 small boiling potatoes (about 2 cups chopped) 

3 TBS Butter 

3 TBS Flour 

1/2 teaspoon Paprika 

sea salt to taste 

fresh pepper to taste 

1 tsp. parsley 

Prep: 

Soak beans for at least 1 hour but preferably overnight (This not only softens the beans but also allows the complex sugars that cause gas to come out into the water.)   

Cooking: 

Boil water and add pork shank.  Simmer for 30 minutes or so and skim excess fat from the top of the water. 

Add salt to water to get it to roughly the saltiness of mild sea water. 

Add beans, onions, and carrots to soup. 

Simmer until beans are tender and pork falls off of the bone(about 1 hour). 

About 30 minutes before cooking is complete add potatoes. 

Prepare a Roux with equal parts of butter and flour.  Add roux to soup to thicken until soup coats a spoon.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of Paprika and 1 teaspoon of parsley.   

Season to taste with salt, pepper.