Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Although I am not normally a huge fan of soaking (especially because I use super fresh beans from places like Rancho Gordo), I think it is important in this dish as you will not be just straight cooking the beans like normal.

The next day, place the beans in a large pot with their water--add enough additional water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, skimming the foam, and add one bay leaf and 1/2 of an onion, chopped. Cover and let very gently simmer until the beans are tender but not mushy.

In the meantime, place the meat in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the other bay leaf and bring to a boil. Skim the foam and reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Let cook for about 60 minutes at a very slow simmer (if you simmer it harder, remove at about 30 minutes). I like lower and slower.

Remove the meat, reserving the cooking broth, and set aside to cool. Boil the remained broth down to 1/2 cup.

Drain the beans, reserving about 1 cup of the bean broth. Set both aside.

Cut the pork into 1/2-inch pieces--it should be juicy and barely cooked. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

While the pork broth is reducing, heat a large, straight-sided skillet over medium high heat. Add the bacon grease (you can use 50% oil if the grease bothers you). When it is hot, add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes. Add the pork and garlic and cook for another 3 minutes, then add the beans. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the dried chile powders and cumin. Crumble the oregano in. Cook for 1 minute. Add the beer and reduced pork broth with a scant teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes. If it seems to have too little liquid, add some reserved bean broth.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Add some fresh ground black pepper. Taste the beans for additional seasoning, but note that the broth will be decidedly beer-y at this point; this will mellow after baking. Mix in the chopped bell pepper, zucchini, pineapple and the pineapple juice.

Place the pork and beans with the veggies into a baking dish (2 1/2 qt). Bake for 45 minutes, during which time a lot of the liquid will cook off (if it cooks off before the 45 minute mark, take it out then). My liquid never completely cooked off, so I served it as a delicious stew. My family enjoyed crumbling tortilla chips into it.