Ultimate Great Northern Beans - cooking recipe

Ingredients

16 ounces great northern beans
30 ounces chicken broth (canned)
15 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies (ro-tel)
1 large white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cooking oil
6 ounces smoked pork pork jowl, cut into chunks
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
48 ounces water

Preparation

Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Make sure that there is twice as much water as beans because they will swell up.
In a large cooking pot, pour in the cooking oil and toss in the smoked jowl pieces. Stir and allow them to sizzle over medium heat for 5 or 6 minutes. After they brown a bit, deglaze the pot with about 4 ounces of the chicken broth.
Add the onion and allow to simmer until the onion is tender, stirring often.
Rinse the beans in fresh water a final time and, after draining, add them, plus all the remaining ingredients into the pot. This should include the 48 ounces of water listed in the ingredients.
Boil, covered, over low heat until beans are tender, stirring occasionally (about 2-3 hours).
Serve with cornbread, fried potatoes, eggs and biscuits.
If you wish, you can use chunks of ham or bacon instead of pork jowl.