fifi

I found this govt site. You can look up other beans on the list to the right. In general, the site states that dried beans over one year old will require longer cooking times. I don't know about you but when I have run into "old" beans, you could cook them until hell freezes over and they will never be great.

suzilightning will have to enlighten us. My sister just added stuff until it "looked right". First she took off the zest with a microplane. Then she added cinnamon, nutmeg and I think some cardamom just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. At first, it was a little bitter but that mellowed after a day or so.

I put my LC in the oven all the time. That little knob is made of a phenolic plastic and is ok to at least 450F.

There has been a bit of discussion lately on the cooking of dried beans. This thread in the Louisiana forum drifted into a discussion of red beans. There have also been some discussions in the various cassoulet threads. I thought it might be a good idea to collect all of our wisdom and lack thereof in a thread on beans. Here is a start. To salt or not to salt while cooking... that is the question. I have seen numerous declarations over the years about the evils of cooking beans with salt. Then, in the same "breath" so to speak, you are adding ham hocks, ham bones, bacon or other salty pork products. What's up with that? Well, it seems that there was a controlled test done by someone. (I can't find it to save me. Alton Brown? Steingarten? Cook's Illustrated?) It seems that salt has nothing to do with the final texture of beans. It is the age of the dried bean. I have been salting away for years and am well known for my excellent beans. But I have been caught with old beans before that never cook up right. More on this later. Then there is "the Problem" with beans. This from McGee: Well, it does seem that there may be some science behind some folk wisdom. It seems that phenolics that are present in certain herbs and such may suppress some of the bacterial action in the lower gut. (The situation is that the oligosaccharides in beans are not digested in the upper GI tract and arrive in the lower as ample fodder for the bacteria there to do their thing.) So, addition of epizote by the Mexicans may have some merit if epizote has a lot of phenolics. I don't know. There is a gathering opinion that if you eat a lot of beans, your bacterial population will adjust and all will be well. What has me intensely curious is the test protocol and equipment used to test those astronauts. Inquiring minds want to know. This one is new to me. Paula Wolfert, in discussing cassoulet, has espoused the importance of cooking beans in "just enough liquid" and not too much in order to attain the optimum texture. It turns out that McGee has also addressed this issue. Another quote from McGee: So... Some years ago I adopted the crock pot as the method of choice for cooking my beans. Being a rather inattentive sort, I got sick of burning beans. As it turns out, my crock pot is of a size that, by the time I put in a ham bones or hocks or other seasoning, I have just enough room in the crock pot for the "just enough" liquid. So my excellent beans are not the result of my culinary prowess but a happy accident. Who knew? I won't tell if you don't. Now back to that all important issue of the age of the dried beans, apparantly the most important factor in how they will cook up. There was a thread here some time ago, and I have heard it on TV, that there doesn't seem to be a good way to tell the age of the dried beans that you buy. All you could do was go somewhere that you had a reasonable expectation that the product turnover was high enough to ensure fresh dried beans. Then I noticed that the last time I bought Camellia red beans, they had an expiration date on the bag. I don't know how many other bags of beans are showing these dates. I will be investigating that. Then the question arises, what does that date mean? What is the shelf life of dried beans before they get to the point that they will never cook up to creamy wonderfulness? If a bag of Camellias says "use before xxx 2005" what does that mean? If the shelf life is two years, does that mean they were packaged in 2003? You see the problem. Let's discuss these weighty issues.

Raw sugar, citrus rind and spices. You sprinkle it on buttered toast, oatmeal, whatever.

I'm looking. I'm looking. I don't think it was McGee. I will start a thread in General whatever when I get my s*** together. Probably tomorrow.

I seem to remember that we had the discussion on a thread some time ago about how it was a cryin' shame that you really couldn't tell how old dried beans are because they don't date the package. I JUST noticed the date on the Camellia packages. Now I am curious and will check out other bags of beans on my next trip to the store. Now my question is how old is an old bean. We should probably explore this burning question on a separate thread in a general forum.

I dunno about that. Several years ago, I got curious about the uniqueness of Camellias so I wrote to them. I recall that they wrote back and said that they have growers under contract to them to grow "their" beans. (This was before the age of e-mail and I can't find the letter now. I kept it just out of interest.) I also took some beans to work and examined the guts of the beans under the microscope. The structure of the starch in the Camellias was finer. Yes, they have high turn over and the age of the bean has a lot to do with how well a bean cooks up. According to McGee (I think) the age of the bean is everything and all of the stuff about salt etc. is myth. The only thing that can affect the texture of the bean while cooking is acid. So, if you want to add tomato products of some kind in a relatively large quantity, you should add it toward the end. I do note that they have an expiration date on the bags. I think Camellia is the only brand of dried bean that I have seen that.

I have a lovely little jar of this stuff that my sister made from tangelos that were particularly pretty. This is my new favorite thing. She made it using the raw sugar from a friend whose family still grows sugar cane in Louisiana. I just keep it on the kitchen counter.

I found this sight for Camellia red beans. When I googled "Camellia red beans" I got several hits. Dave... The only red beans that cook right are the Camellia brand. I don't know why. Maybe they grow their own special strain. I just know that any other red kidney bean just ain't right.

I am probably going to do no rub as well. That will give me a good excuse to try =Mark's sauce. Besides, the lazy factor may kick in. Cinnamon rub? Pray tell what that is all about? I love cinnamon on meat. This little picnic is just under five pounds. Does anyone know how long it should sit in the brine? The brine is just the standard 1 cup Kosher salt to a gallon.

I think that is the first time I have EVER heard of someone being allergic to chicken. Eggs, yes... Chicken... no. Weird.

My HEB had these beautiful little picnics on sale. One is lolling around in the fridge in its briney bath as I type this. I am also starting an internal debate with myself regarding the rub. To rub or not to rub... that is the question.

Oooo... celery seeds. That sounds like a good addition. My mother always put celery seeds in her killer potato salad.

Regarding the red beans... Do what Dave said!

This was a favorite breakfast treat when I was little. My mother would warm leftover rice and serve it to me with sugar, cinnamon and lots of butter. Sometimes she would use brown sugar. I hadn't thought of that in years.

That is the stuff where the Dawn product is dynamite.

I love cole slaw. I hate sweet cole slaw. I have a recipe from many years ago that a college room mate's mother used to make. It included onion and the dressing was one half mayo and one half Italian dressing. I loved it. This recipe in the Houston Chronicle this week was recommended to me by a friend. (Scroll down.) I just made it and it is really wonderful. I added a little more heat to the mix. It is good now but I can see that it will be better tomorrow. I also think that this one would be terrific with added shrimp or crab meat. Any more recipes out there for cole slaw that isn't sweet?

Comfort Me... You are a very wise man. Now that you have said beans in your possession the actual execution is easy. Saute some trinity (Onion, celery, bell pepper in a roughly 2:1:1 ratio). Put that in your pot with some sort of pork product. I have used ham bones, ham hocks, and the classic sweet pickled pork (which may not be available outside of New Orleans). Add a couple of bay leaves. Then you cook the beans using whatever method you are most comfortable with. I have taken to using the crock pot in recent years. The unique properties of the Camellias will get you there. edit to add: I learned something the other day from Paula Wolfert on a cassoulet thread. Beans should be cooked with just enough liquid, not too much. If you have too much liquid, the starches leach out into the excess liquid and the beans do not attain optimum texture. I have been doing that just because the capacity of my crock pot dictated that I not have too much liquid. I was doing it "right". I just didn't know why. My sister screwed up a batch of red beans recently by having too much liquid. They really didn't achieve that creamy texture even though they were Camellia brand. She had a bunch of stock she needed to use up.

I forgot to add... If you are looking to duplicate the incredibly creamy and delicious red beans, you will have to find a source for Camellia brand red beans. I have tried other brands of red kidney beans and they just aren't the same thing. Luckily, a few years ago, my local Kroger stores started carrying them. Until that happy occurrence, I was relegated to carrying a few pounds in my luggage when making a trip to New Orleans. I think there is a web site somewhere that you can order such a thing. If I find it later today, I will report a link.

I am so glad that the gumbo recipe worked for you. I am committed to spreading the gospel of gumbo to the hungry masses. Of course, I can't take credit for gumbo expertise. That came from the gumbo goddess of LaPlace LA many years ago. I will try to come up with an actual recipe for my red beans and post it. Unfortunately, as with most of this style of cooking, things are not... shall we say... precise. A lot of it depends on what you have that you need to use. What I can suggest is that Emeril's Louisiana Real and Rustic is an excellent starting point for many of these recipes. BTW... That is an eGullet friendly link. I have used many of the recipes in that book and found them to be pretty darned authentic. At least you get a good starting point for proportions and can deviate from there. Be warned that Mayhaw Man is likely to insert some evil okra recipes.

The Houston Chronicle - Dining Guide Try these Tex-Mex favorites Predictable. But the article does give a pretty good list of what is available with some useful descriptions. There is a surprisingly low key approach to food in the local papers in connection with all of the other Superbowl hype. It is there, just not as much as I expected. Dining in The Houston Press appears to have gone missing. What's up with that?

I am not sure what you mean by oil stains but the new Dawn Power Dissolver is terrific for baked on grease and gunk. I use it on my smoker grills.

Lack of time and a busy schedule have postponed my foray into classic Cassoulet-Land, which I fully intend to do when I get my POT. However, some of these ideas are really welcome. I have a pan very similar to yours, Jensen. I may have to try out your method. I have done something similar with cubed pork butt and chicken thighs. It certainly was not classic cassoulet but it was damn good.

I am seeing the same phenomenon in Houston, where food is usually a little cheaper than the rest of the country. I have been paying around $2.49 - $2.89 for a head and they are smallish. I can eat one myself with no problem. Sliced without the core it easily fits on a half sheet. I went to my favorite Asian market a couple of weeks ago and, amazingly, they didn't have any. As I was gawking around, I saw this Indian lady similarly gawking. I asked her if she knew where the cauliflower was. She said that she was looking for it also and was puzzled as to why they didn't have it. Should we be alarmed? Has some pernicious blight attacked the cauliflower fields in this country? Is this some evil conspiracy? Get the populace addicted then destroy the source of all pleasure. BWAHAHAHAHA!