Bean pie - do you like?

[phaelon56]

I did a thorough forum search and could find nought but my own reference to it in an old post. For those not familiar with the dish, it's a moderately sweet pie with a pastry crust and is made from cooked navy beans, evaporated milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and butter (possibly some other ingredients but those are the basics). Some soul food restaurants here in the northeastern US carry it but locally the only place I can find it with consistency is when a local mosque is selling bean pies as a fund raiser (it's might delicious and I always buy some).

I've got a hankering for some and thought perhaps I should try to mkae my opwn. Just curious to know if any of you have experience with it and might suggest a favorite recipe to share or suggestiosn for ways to perk it up with some added ingredients.

Don't even get me started on "white potato pie" - that one's really tasty but apart from potato and coconut I have no clue what's in it.

[browniebaker]

Love bean pie! I simply substitute an equal amount of mashed (and strained, if you like) or pureed beans for the pumpkin in the famous Libby's pumpkin pie recipe. There are a lot of variations on the bean pie, some milkier than others. a good amount of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves is advisable, for a plain bean pie would be terribly dull.

Try different types of beans, too. Adzuki (small sweet red) beans make a marvelous bean pie. You can even buy sweetened red bean paste and use it from the can, adjusting the amount of added granulated sugar in the recipe.

The bean pie is good for you, too, packed with protein, full of fiber, and inexpensive.

[Swisskaese]

I have never had any, but here is a link for Bean Pie and White Potato Pie:

Bean Pie

White Potato Pie

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm not at all familar with bean pies. Are they Southern? What are their origins?

This reminds me of a mock apple pie concept-except the beans have more nutritional value then a ritz cracker. Is there a similarity? Are the beans just a blank medium for your to flavor?

[phaelon56]

Are the beans just a blank medium for your to flavor?

The only place I see them is when a local mosque is selling them as a fundraising activity. I have a number of African-American friends who were raised eating soul food and although as adults they're all familiar with bean pie, it was not a standard item in their households during their childhoods.

Ostensibly, it was developed by a Muslim baker in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the Bronx (NYC). It's a popular dish in the Black Muslim community - it would seem that the supposed historical origin makes sense.

Googling shjows a number of variations including a mocke oecan pie made from bean but the variety I'm familiar with is made from navy beans. It reminds me of a much denser version of shoo-fly pie in terms of appearance and texture but is far less sweet. I've now spotted some recipes that include eggs, cloves, ginger and a small bit of lemon or lime juice along with the other ingredients. I should imagine that it would be fairly easy to convert the recipe to a vegan dessert,

I really like bean pie but yes... it is primarily a transport mechanism for the flavors other than the beans.

[tryska]

yeah i've always know bean pie to be something that memebersof the Nation of Islam sell for fundraisers.

everytime i think of beanpies i think of men in suits with bowties.

i've never had one, but was always curious.

[phaelon56]

i've never had one, but was always curious.

It's good but an entire pie would be a lot unless you had folks to share it with. I buy one slice at a time but I think the recipe they use (for the ones that I buy) could be improved.

[Pan]

Are the beans just a blank medium for your to flavor?

The only place I see them is when a local mosque is selling them as a fundraising activity. I have a number of African-American friends who were raised eating soul food and although as adults they're all familiar with bean pie, it was not a standard item in their households during their childhoods.

Ostensibly, it was developed by a Muslim baker in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the Bronx (NYC). It's a popular dish in the Black Muslim community - it would seem that the supposed historical origin makes sense.[...]

←

Owen, do you have a source for that? I've been discussing the pie in the Southern Food Culture forum, after initially asking whether bean pies were traditional in the South. Did the concept not exist until the Nation of Islam made it up? Its spicing does resemble the spicing for traditional Southern pies like sweet potato pie.

[cakewalk]

Are the beans just a blank medium for your to flavor?

Ostensibly, it was developed by a Muslim baker in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the Bronx (NYC).

←

(Ahem) Brooklyn.

<carry on>

Edited to add: I've never heard of either bean pie or white potatoe pie, so, geography aside, I'm finding this thread quite fascinating. Thanks.

Edited July 23, 2005 by cakewalk (log)

[joiei]

Being from the far deep south, i have never heard of such. It must be a (southern) yankee thing. It sounds like something that was possibly developed to have a sweet using ingredients that were as inexpensive as possible.

[Kris]

yeah i've always know bean pie to be something that memebersof the Nation of Islam sell for fundraisers.

everytime i think of beanpies i think of men in suits with bowties.

i've never had one, but was always curious.

←

Ditto.

Every time I think of bean pie, I think of a clean cut looking guy in a black suit with a bowtie. I used to see them being sold a lot by Black Muslims in Harlem but not so much anymore (not that I'm up in Harlem a lot these days though).

I think bean pie is delicious and I have a recipe for a delicious bean pie made with navy beans (I used fresh ones soaked and cooked, but you could use canned), evaporated milk, cinnamon, sugar, eggs, etc. I'll post it later when I get home from work.

I think what's even more fabulous than bean pie is the butternut squash pie that the Black Muslims also sell/sold. YUMMY! Both the bean pie & butternut squash pies were sold in little 5" or 6" pie tins, which is the perfect serving size for one or two people.

[ludja]

Bill Neal has a recipe for a dessert "Pinto Bean Cake" in his "Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie".

The ingredients include: raisins, chopped apple, sherry or bourbon, butter, sugar, eggs, bean puree, flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, chopped pecans and vanilla.

Here's a quote from the preface to the recipe:

This recipe is an adaptation of Mrs. Selena Robinson's cake.  She was a famous cook from Brevard, NC, and said this was a cake to make from leftovers.  It is a prime example of the creativity of black cooks who often worked with a limited pantry.  Three are many Afro-American pinto bean-based desserts, other cakes, many pies, but this is one of the very best of the lot.  Mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin can replace the beans--both of which would make a cake more nutricious than is usually found at dessert time.

(bolding added by me).

I would strongly suspect that bean pies originated in the South, and then migrated to other parts of the country. It would be interesting to know why the recipe particularly persisted with Nation of Islam followers. Perhaps it was adopted because it was primarily associated with black southern culture as opposed to southern culture as a whole. This is not exlcude that it also survived on the merits of taste!

[Kris]

I was supposed to post this recipe here over a year ago. But it's better late than never.

Bean Pie

2 unbaked pie shells

1/2 cup butter

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

5 large eggs

3 cups cooked navy beans (drained well and pureed smooth - no lumps)

2 cups evaporated milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure lemon extract

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until creamed. Stir in flour and cinnamon until blended. One at a time, beat in eggs until well combined. Gradually stir in beans, milk and extracts. Spoon bean filling into pie shells. Bake 5 minutes in a pre-heated 425 degree oven. Lower heat to 325 degrees and bake an additional 45 minutes.

[Andrew Fenton]

This is very interesting. While I've seen Nation of Islam members selling pies on the side of the street for years, I always assumed they were sweet potato pies; the bean pies look the same.

Anyway, a few bean pie links I came across:

a San Francisco couple selling bean pies

Wikipedia on bean pie

a bean pie recipe at "Muhammad Speaks"

great picture of a Philadelphia man filling a bean pie order

and the scriptural basis for eating bean pie, from Elijah Muhammad's How to Eat to Live:

  No beans did He advise, except the small navy, the small size and not the larger size, the little brown pink ones, and the white ones. This bean He valued to be very high in protein, fats and starches, and it is a safe food for prolonging life. As you will find, most of the Muslims like their bean soup. These beans are dry beans. He said that He could take one of our babies and start him off eating the dry small navy bean soup, and make that child live 240 years. He described no other bean. This dry bean, or pulse, is of ancient origin. It was this bean, according to certain historians, that Daniel preferred for himself and his followers in the prison of Nebuchadnezzar. Do not add rice and meats to these beans. because they contain proteins, fats and starches.