Rancho Gordo: Beans and More

[Katie Meadow]

23 hours ago, kayb said:

@Chris Amirault, on this site, posted his mother-in-law's Castaneda Posole some 10 or more  years ago. It remains the only posole I will ever cook. Recipe here.

I've made her recipe in the past, with tweaks. It is quite good. If you have the energy I would suggest making a red chile paste/slurry using whole dried chiles rather than powdered product, but I know that's time consuming and a bit messy. Also I probably would not add the jalapenos if I had a good flavorful red chile sauce. It may be a completely strange quirk, but when I lived in NM we generally didn't mix fresh chiles with dried or powdered, nor did we often mix red chile with green in the same dish. Now that doesn't include the batches of fresh green chiles that had a few red ripening ones in the bunch; those were all roasted and treated as fresh green, and that was always my favorite aesthetically.

[heidih]

My favorite posole article. I'd suggest using RG's hominy at least once - intense in the best way.  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-13-fo-49542-story.html

Edited December 8, 2019 by heidih (log)

[IowaDee]

This morning.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttvqx77Goig&ab_channel=CBSSundayMorning

 

[Gayle28607]

Oh my goodness. There are 11,000 people on the @rancho_gordo bean club waitlist! (According to the CBS story). Thank goodness I’m already in it. I do love it, and rave about the beans to anyone who will listen, so I get it. Well deserved publicity for a great product and a really thoughtful food grower.

 

I had the mayocoba’s the other day, cooking them for a soup I love. They almost didn’t make it to the soup! Great meaty texture and a subtle smokey flavor that got lost in the soup. They were so good on their own that if they come in the bean club box again I’m eating them on their own.

[dtremit]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:18 AM, Gayle28607 said:

Oh my goodness. There are 11,000 people on the @rancho_gordo bean club waitlist! (According to the CBS story). Thank goodness I’m already in it. I do love it, and rave about the beans to anyone who will listen, so I get it. Well deserved publicity for a great product and a really thoughtful food grower.

 

Two years ago I sent some RG beans as a gift in mid December and they barely missed the Christmas shipping cutoff. 

This year they're already past the Christmas shipping deadline!

 

I'm sure they're working at reduced capacity, but wow.

 

(Thankfully I have all I need from the club!) 

[Gayle28607]

14 hours ago, dtremit said:

(Thankfully I have all I need from the club!) 

Yes, this pandemic has made me hugely grateful for the bean club! As others, apparently, were sweeping bags of less-than-optimal bags of beans into their carts in March, I was thinking, "Oh! More time to be home to cook those bean club beans." Cooking things like the Rancho Gordo beans, and then having lovely beans reappear like magic, has been one of the positive pandemic experiences. 

[Shelby]

Bean club got here this morning!  I had totally forgotten about it.  Two new (to me)--the Cicerchia look really interesting and the Hidatsa Red too.  Like others have said, I'm very grateful to be a member of the bean club.  I'm sure the wait list to get in is very very long by now.

 

[blue_dolphin]

43 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Two new (to me)--the Cicerchia look really interesting and the Hidatsa Red too.

 

Those two are new to me, too, and I'm looking forward to trying them.  I got my order confirmation but no shipping notice yet.  Hopefully they'll get shipped next week. 

[Eatmywords]

I always meant to order esp years ago when he posted often and was getting the biz going.  I've accepted that we're just not a big bean family.  Nice to see he has a waiting list.  Love the packaging and concept. 

[heidih]

57 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Bean club got here this morning!  I had totally forgotten about it.  Two new (to me)--the Cicerchia look really interesting and the Hidatsa Red too.  Like others have said, I'm very grateful to be a member of the bean club.  I'm sure the wait list to get in is very very long by now.

 

 

@Shelby Is there a suggested bean or use associated with the sweet little jar of turmeric?

[Shelby]

38 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

@Shelby Is there a suggested bean or use associated with the sweet little jar of turmeric?

Yes   He says in the quarterly news letter that comes with the beans that he doesn't use much turmeric but that his friends at Burlap and Barrel had it and the staff at RG loved it.  He suggests a one-pot Turmeric Rice and Beans (saute chopped onion in oil, toss in turmeric, cumin and salt and pepper.  Ad dried beans and water to cover.  Simmer until beans are soft.  Stir in uncooked rice when you have about 20 mins left.  Cover and cook until rice is tender), Crispy Chickpeas with turmeric (cook chickpeas, drain well, toss in olive oil, turmeric, salt pepper, ginger and chili.  Transfer to baking sheet.  Bake in 400F oven until crisp about 30 mins.)

Edited February 26, 2021 by Shelby (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

Bean club got here this morning!  I had totally forgotten about it.  Two new (to me)--the Cicerchia look really interesting and the Hidatsa Red too.  Like others have said, I'm very grateful to be a member of the bean club.  I'm sure the wait list to get in is very very long by now.

 

 

Thank you for the spoiler.  My box is here but I haven't been able to bring myself to open it.

 

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Thank you for the spoiler.  My box is here but I haven't been able to bring myself to open it.

 

I'm sorry!  I should have put a spoiler warning !

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I'm sorry!  I should have put a spoiler warning !

I was the child who always tried to peek through the wrapping paper so knowing what's in the box only heightens my anticipation of getting my hands on the goods...or beans 🙃

[Maison Rustique]

I down-sized to the Bean Club Lite version (twice a year), so not getting this one. Drat! I've gotten it for so many years, it feels odd to miss one now.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I down-sized to the Bean Club Lite version (twice a year), so not getting this one. Drat! I've gotten it for so many years, it feels odd to miss one now.

 

I certainly should downsize but I'm afraid of missing something.

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I certainly should downsize but I'm afraid of missing something.

 

 

Same

[heidih]

I just got prompted with his FB page - his image is appropriate and made me smile (corn & bean)

[chefmd]

I do not have bean club subscription, did not get it prior to the pandemic and now it is not available.  So I got a bunch of different beans to qualify for free shipping with 50 dollars minimum purchase.  DH picked vaquero beans to cook first, that’s why that bag is not full.  I got a free post card and a free recipe card.

[weinoo]

Just cooked some Desi Chana tonight.  Soaked for around 8 hours, and cooked in the IP for less than an hour, they’re nice and tender and will be used in a recipe (Chana masala) tomorrow.  They take forever on the stovetop; probably as long to cook as any bean I’ve bought from RG.

[weinoo]

I guess the limas can take a while too; they’re huge and you need to keep an eye on the water level.

[chefmd]

@weinoo thank you for the cooking suggestions 

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, chefmd said:

@weinoo thank you for the cooking suggestions 

 

You're welcome.  Of course the flip side I failed to mention is some of them cook faster than you'd think. So the old cooking school adage comes into play: cook them till they're done! (And check often).

[Gayle28607]

12 hours ago, weinoo said:

Just cooked some Desi Chana tonight.  Soaked for around 8 hours, and cooked in the IP for less than an hour, they’re nice and tender and will be used in a recipe (Chana masala) tomorrow.  They take forever on the stovetop; probably as long to cook as any bean I’ve bought from RG.

 

When you cooked them on the stovetop without pressure do you remember about how long it took to cook them? I've been shifting back to long simmered stove top beans after many years of largely using my Kuhn Rikon stovetop pressure cooker. 

[weinoo]

25 minutes ago, Gayle28607 said:

 

When you cooked them on the stovetop without pressure do you remember about how long it took to cook them? I've been shifting back to long simmered stove top beans after many years of largely using my Kuhn Rikon stovetop pressure cooker. 

 

Oh man, they took like 2.5 - 3 hours (though I don't remember if I soaked them) on the stovetop.

 

FWIW, I actually prefer cooking most beans on the stovetop. But because it's starting to get hot here, I decided to haul the IP out and use it for the first time in a long time, after becoming less of a fan of pressure cooking en toto. So knowing I wanted to try Chana Masala, and knowing how long the chana took to cook the last time I made the dish, and reading my friends recipe and how he gets the chana nice and tender in his pressure cooker, bam! 50 minutes, natural release, nice and tender. Today or tomorrow I'll use them for chana masala.