rancho_gordo

Yesterday I made a small batch of some rare Flor de Junio I was hoarding. Just to tempt fate, I sauteed some onions and garlic in a wee bit of bacon fat, added the dry beans, coated them, then water. Then I held my breath and salted lightly. And it worked. Once cooked. these tasted like "better the next day" beans and less than half the amount of salt I'd normally use. This is really great!

I have a beautiful round tin of the salt-packed I bought probably 7 or 8 years ago. I've always been afraid to open it until I go on an anchovy kick. This is stupid because I love them and eat them ofte, buying smaller jars of oil-packed to avoid digging into my saltpacked. My mind is a wonder! So is my tin still good?

I missed this one. Do you have a recipe for pressure cooker flan? You would make my life complete!

oooooo..... I have to find one of these!

You just wait until the NorCalif potluck!!!!!

Can I add a food word to the hit list? "Yummy" I hope I don't offend but I have yet to see the word here on eGullet. I've seen "Mmmmm!" as in "Mmm-mmmm good" and while it's dangerously close, it's not evil. But "Yummy", "yum" or the devil itself, "Yummers!" are like eating cilantro for the allergic. It's one of the many reasons I can't take Rachel Ray seriously.

I have Christmas Limas, an heirloom with a distinct chestnut flavor, so I am a bit concerned. I don't hate limas but if I never ate another, I could cope somehow. It seems fitting that they have the potential to be poison!

Wow, I have never heard this. That's a little scary. Does it have to be uncovered the whole time?

Oh, badthings! You can go to the somewhat facist SF farmers market and not visit me in Oakland???? FWIW, I checked out the little Berkeley farmers market today so I may be there soon. Now back to beans....

Also lentils, lupini and peas (I know peas are not beans but you know what I mean!)

Russ, I'm wiping away the tears of joy from my eyes. Thank you so much! So much great information and so many of my hunches confirmed. And new questions posed! I also think Paula must be right about the old world beans. But I've always maintained that you need to soak Runner Cannellini (probably new world but hard to pinpoint) and Scarlet Runners (traceable to Oaxaca Mexico, 7050 BC). I can't wait to try these again. I admit to being sloppy about lid placement. I've also heard that hard water can have an effect on beans. Again, I can't tell you how much this thread has meant to me!

I have to say, I find the email kind of an odd way of communicating to a restaurant. I wonder if you had called and talked to someone if they would have been more sympathetic. Or written a real letter. But maybe I'm an old-fashioned fart.

I am really flattered and thank you for all the nice comments on the website. I hope you can visit me at a market in the bay area soon!

I'd like to know regional differences with beans. What do you eat in TX, Fifi? Mostly pintos? any regional favorites. In Santa Maria CALIF, they eat a nice pinquito bean that's kind of dense and "fudgy" with their BBQ. IN SF, there are so many Salvadoreans, you see a lot of their red beans now. They are small and dense. To generalize and offend, I find there are some constants. If a customer gets the concept of "pot beans", they tend to be from the west or southwest. The red beans and rice seems to be from the south and baked beans and Italian moxie seem to from the east. People from the midwest tend to be the most intimidated and want "recipes" and ideas on what to do with them. I try to tell them that a pot of heirloom beans by themselves is a glorious thing, maybe with some tortillas or rice but this is too much. Eventually they come around. And there are plenty of exceptions to the above!

Add a bottle of the beer!

Sounds good to me- just be careful with a bean like Runner Cannellini. It looks as nasty and has a shriveled attached skin while it's soaking. Even when "fresh".

WIth a few exceptions, we can only get one crop a season. Heirlooms tend to be a later harvest, which is one reason hybrids are more popular. There are a few high-yielding heirlooms that we can squeeze two planting out of. So I mean two years, practically speaking. But we may grow them and harvest them, but then we still need to clean them and depending on the facility, it can be a good long time before they're ready to sell.

You just have to be careful. Cooks tend to be very attached to their cooking methods of beans. I used to almost fight with people but now I just smile. But I do soak runner cannellini and the big beans. >>>rancho gordo, I just clicked on your link and saw that you're in my area! I live in Oakland (I generally do Jack London square market on Sundays), so next Saturday I'm gonna head up to Grand Lake and try some of your beans.<<< Yeah! I've already met two other EGullet Gastro-naughts and it's always fun. And don't forget the eGullet potluck in Napa in late Feb!

>Is the data given in the govt link above correct? Is the peak freshness gone >after one year? And does that differ by type of bean? I didn't get a chance to check it. But on any mass scale, from farm to cleaning to distribution to store to consumer within a year isn't very practical, especially the way most Americans eat beans. But- I don't know. I'll see if I can find out. >As reported above, I have just started to see "use by" dates on some bean >packages. Is that a new trend? The only problem is that it's so subjective. I know guys in the Dry Bean Association who think 5 years is just fine- and for a commerical hybrid that's going to be soaked and mixed with meat and more, it is. >Damn. Why don't you sell mail order? Need a job? Doing these markets is grueling and dealing with restaurants is exciting but there's no time for any nonesense. I don't want to do mail order until I can do it well.

Not really. If you don't know your source, soaking might not be such a bad idea. But if you start bugging your grocer, they might work on getting fresher beans.

I hope I don't come off as a "sabe todo" but beans is my bizness. I grow, trade and sell beans professionally at local farmers markets, to restaurants a few specialty stores. With a few exceptions, I don't pre-soak my beans. I sauté onion and garlic, mostly in a 1/2 teaspon of fresh lard from carnitas (OK, so it's a whole teaspoon, but NO MORE THAN THAT! Really!). I add dry beans, coat them, add water and then bring to a boil. Then simmer until done on a back burner while I do something else. Note that my beans are always fresh- no more than 2 seasons old and kept in cold storage until used. I only grow/sell heirlooms and I don't find the need for a ham hock or anything else. Eating heirloom beans is like heirloom tomatoes in that they are unique and stand on own. I salt and add acids later, only because I am too cheap to waste a pot of beans to find out if it's a myth. But I have learned that beans are like a dry martini cocktail- some stir, some shake and the chef/bartender is often irrationally dedicated to his methods. I've learned not to fight. If you like to soak, be my guest. My partner and his wife think I'm nuts. They soak, change the water, cook for seven days and all the rest. I'd rather eat at my house. There are a few gigantic beans like Runner Cannellini, borlotti and Scarlet Runners that I soak, just to be contrary. I think a crock pot is great. Deborah Madison taught me about the pressure cooker. She cooks for 20 minutes under pressure, releases, then 20 minutes (or more or less, depending on the bean) stovetop. It works but changes the texture slightly, in a pleasurable way. And you get beans within an hour without soaking. For my money, I always make extra liquid, or pot liquor. It's free soup! You can make frijoladaas (the bean version of enchiladas), poach eggs, make rice and more. It's great food for baby's after breast milk. I eat beans twice a day and cook them about 3 times a week. I sometimes cook with epazote, sometimes not. I tell my cutomers that the gas is their "gift with purchase". Mostly it's not an issue, maybe becuase my beans are fresher. Sorry of I've gone on too much. my website has descpriptions of many heirlooms, some recipes and cooking lore. I don't sell mail order so I think it's ok to list it here, isn't it? Hope I haven't gone on too long. The bottom line is you just cook them. They are very forgiving, delicious and as a bonus- healthy. I say beware of anyone who speaks in absolutes about beans!

It may dull the finish, if that matters. But this stuff is amazing. I have hard water and orange tile stains, purple sink stains and a general nightmare. Bleach made it worse and everything else did a lot of nothing. Except Barkeepers Friend. It really is amazing and I hope no one gets on to tell me it's an enviromental disaster, source of illness or employs slave labor. I love this product!

The only problem I can see is Tigers Eyes dissolve quite easily compared to other beans. The advantage of flageolets is they stay whole, mostly, despite a lot of cooking and handling. They are also a milder bean. Tigers Eye are a great pinto substitute.

I just did my first roasted cauliflower. I liked but feel like maybe I used too much oil. I had some pureed flageolets (very dry at this point) and some chicken stock, so I added these to the leftover cauliflower, used that blender stick thing and came up with some great soup.

I just got the book Modern Mexican Flavors by Richard Sandoval and I find many of his cooking ideas intriguing and somewhat "do-able". His presentation is very architectual and fussy, with lots of squirt-bottle sauces and the whole thing seems so 1980s. I've been cooking from the book and it's been a gas as I ignore the presentaion advice. Plus, I prefer to serve family-style rather than "plate" the dishes. It just strikes me as more gracious. Anyway, I'm curious about the restaurant Maya. I know two people who went. One loved it, the other HATED it with such passion I didn't knwo what to think. Any impressions? Is it worth any thought?