Beans are a great source of nutrition, and they play an important part in American regional cooking and culture. Their roots are often in other cultures, but the recipes have been thoroughly Americanized. They are especially important to barbecue culture, and that's my beat. It's hard to find a pit stop that doesn't serve some sort of beans. Here are the basics a cook needs to know about beans.
Canned beans are quick and easy. Drain the salty liquid, rinse, heat, and they are ready to eat.
Dried beans are much cheaper and taste slightly better. They just take a bit more effort and a lot more time. As Steve Sando of the highly regarded bean grower Rancho Gordo likes to say "The big advantage of dried beans is the liquid they make. Canned beans need to be washed, whereas real beans come with free soup!" If you wish to use dried beans, it's pretty easy.
1) Dump dried beans on the counter and make sure there are no pebbles or other foreign matter in them.
2) Give them a quick rinse in cold water.
3) In a bowl, cover the beans with 3 times their volume of water and soak at least 6 hours. You can soak up to 12 hours if you wish. The longer dried beans soak, the less they need to cook. Beans soaked for 6 hours may need to cook 3 to 4 hours. Beans soaked for 12 hours may be done in 2 hours or so. If you don't have time to soak beans, you can cook with dried beans, they'll just take longer to get tender, perhaps 5 to 6 hours depending on the type and size of the bean.
Some folks think that you should discard the soaking water to reduce flatulence, but I have read reliable sources saying that this doesn't work (sorry), and that throwing out the liquid wastes nutrients. Santo says we should use the liquid, and that's good enough for me.
4) After the beans have been added to the recipe, boil for about 5 minutes, cut back on the heat, and let the beans simmer for about 2 hours or until they get soft enough to pierce easily with a fork. Don't boil beans for more than a few minutes or else they will turn to mush. Simmer them.
Get More MeatheadRead more recipes, techniques, tips, product reviews, and reports from Meathead's kitchen and grill deck at AmazingRibs.com |
Quick soak option. Cover the beans with 3 times their volume of water, bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Remove them from the heat, cover the pot tightly, and let it stand for 1 to 2 hours.
Pressure cooking option. Dried beans cook even faster in a pressure cooker. Rinse, soak, and cook 20 minutes in the pressure cooker. Then open the lid and cook another 20 minutes or more until the beans are done.
Here are some useful measurements. They can vary significantly depending on the type of beans, the size of the beans, or the brand of the canner.
South Carolina Hoppin John. Tis a gift to be simple, with ham hocks, bell pepper, onion, garlic, herbs, on a bed of rice.
Texas Beans. Beans presented simply, with a little help from onion, garlic, bacon or fatback, chile peppers, tomatoes, and cumin.
New Orleans Red Beans & Rice. The ultimate pork and beans, with bacon, cured ham, andouille sausage, and a ham bone, tomato, and other goodies, on a bed of rice.
Boston Baked Beans. Bacon or fatback and molasses, the real deal has no ketchup.
Barbecue Baked Beans. Rich, thick, and sweet, like Boston Baked Beans, spiked with barbecue sauce. My recipe has Bourbon in it too.
Frijoles Borrachos. These "drunken beans" start with the usual onion, garlic, chiles, bacon or fatback, and then the all cook in beer.
Hot Dog Chili. Many Americans consider chili to be a mix of beans and ground meat, and that combo is common especially in the East and Midwest, especially on hot dogs. Beans are never found in classic Cowboy Chile.
Pennsylvania Succotash. A native American crazy quilt of lima beans, other beans, corn kernels, tomatoes, onion, sweet peppers, and if you feel like it, green beans, corn, peas, the kitchen sink...
Little Italy Pasta Fazool. This is the immigrant name and preparation based the classic Italian dish Pasta e Fagioli with white cannellini beans, olive oil, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and macaroni simmered into a runny stew. In the US, don't be surprised to see Italian sausage, ground beef, and grated cheese.
New Mexico Burritos. A soft tortilla wrapped around a filling of refried beans, meat, and rice, and then you can start stylin'. Toss in some more beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, and tomato salsa are common. Refried beans, by the way, are rarely fried, they're just smashed beans and some water or stock.
Here's a favorite recipe by Sando:
All text and photos are Copyright (c) 2011 By Meathead, and all rights are reserved
For more of Meathead's writing, photos, and recipes, please visit his website AmazingRibs.com
Friend Meathead on Facebook
Follow Meathead on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ribguy
I've never seen this math before, but at least now my epic failures in cooking dried beans has an explanation!
the magical fruit...
Lets have beans at every meal!
After washing, put beans in a large bowl with several inches of water over the top. Place in microwave, cook on high for 15 minutes. Let beans stand in microwave for another 15 minutes. Only 30 minutes, and ready to cook! I live in a mile-high city (Abq) so I've had to learn how to speed things up. When my normally sea-level mom came to visit from Louisiana, she tried to cook some beans and said she didn't think they would ever get done!
You can dress them up in so many ways and it's so fast. There is no can taste either. Saute onions, and add spices,etc. and then add the Eden beans. I was surprised how good they were. They have about 12 types of beans.
2-3 lb pork shoulder cut into 2-3 big strips (or 2-3 "country style ribs")
1 lb bacon, sliced thick and cut into 1-inch squares
1 lb small red beans, sorted, rinsed, not soaked
2 large onions (suggest one white and one red), diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
8-10 cloves of garlic, minced
7 oz can chipotles in adobo sauce
2 tsp ground cumin
8 cups water
1 Tbsp kosher salt, divided
Preheat oven to 250F. Set large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Liberally season strips of pork shoulder with kosher salt. Sear until deep brown on all sides. Set aside covered loosely with foil.
Reduce heat to medium and cook bacon until most of the fat is rendered out. Add onion and remaining kosher salt. Cook until soft and golden, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add green pepper and cook for another 10 minutes, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in chipotles (leave them whole) with their adobo sauce, cumin, water, and then the beans. Place pork strips on top of the beans. They should be almost or barely submerged in the liquid. Cover pot with tight-fitting lid and place in the middle of the oven for 3-4 hours.
Carefully remove pork strips to a mixing bowl (they will be fall-apart tender). If desired, adjust the consistency of the beans using a potato masher (I don't recommend an immersion blender for this). Using two forks, pull pork apart into shreds, then stir back into the beans.
This recipe is medium-spicy, smoky, fragrant, rich, and mildly sweet. I like to serve it with cooked quinoa or bulgur wheat. You can mix them together to make a filling. I suggest a vinegary salad or slaw on the side.
http://seaweedsnacks.blogspot.com/2010/04/coriander-mung-bean-soup.html
http://seaweedsnacks.blogspot.com/2010/02/flageolet-bean-soup-for-winters-day.html
Living in the Southwest, we never met a bean we didn't like. Beans are, to us, like potatoes are to New Englanders. I love all your recipe choices above. One of our favorites, which is coming up soon, is Ham and Bean Soup.
Once our Easter honey glazed spiral cut is all but devoured, the bone and generous amounts of ham still attached will end up in the soup pot. Into that savory broth will go navy beans, chopped onion, a few chopped carrots, celery, a little dry mustard, salt and pepper to taste. A nice green salad, homemade crusty bread and Voila! My guys love it.
http://www.chili-everyway.com/