Obsessing About Beans

It’s a genetic thing. We Karash family folk get interested in something (Phase 1). Then we equip fully (Phase 2). Then we engage (Phase 3).

It’s about beans. Heirloom beans. It is my niece’s fault. She introduced me to Rancho Gordo heirloom beans. She said “They just taste better. Really” (or something like that). Yeah. Like beans even have a taste. Aren’t they just a device to carry barbeque sauce into your eating orifice?

OK. Not to be scammed, I immediately visited Rancho Gordo (online, I couldn’t run to Napa this week) — Phase 1 begins. Lucky me, they have a video about cooking beans, and an online store! Hooray! On to Phase 2:  equip fully.

Oh dear. In the video, he cooks his beans in a clay pot. THAT is the missing link. Off to Amazon for an authentic clay pot, made in Chile (where my daughter is going in August). Well, THAT looks like a great deal. I can cook in the Chilean pot while she is in Chile. Double bonus points!

Nothing less than the best equipment. I learned that from my dad:  “Always buy good tools. Don’t buy cheap junk tools because they don’t last.” (or something like that). Thanks Dad, I needed that clay pot.

Now, the pot has arrived. The Rancho Gordo bean cookbook has arrived. Where are my beans?

Not to be derailed from a healthy obsession (fiber + protein + nutrients galore), I am ready and waiting with a new recipe, included below. The recipe is from a gardening blog, called A Way to Garden. She made these with Martha Stewart, so they must be good! I will report in the comments. If you try this, let me know what you think! (Oh yes, I am reading the cookbook, awaiting authentic Rancho Gordo beans to make the authentic Rancho Gordo recipes.)

Is it time to go to Napa?

Phase 3:  Cook the beans!

Vegetarian Baked Beans

Ingredients:
1 pound dry beans (I like a Cranberry type, but a creamier-textured Navy-style small white bean is the traditional choice and cooks faster; in this batch I used ‘Yellow Eye’)

2 quartered medium onions

1/4 cup+ molasses (I use Wholesome Sweeteners organic style, very rich)

1/4 cup+ maple syrup — I like Dark Amber for robust flavor

4 Tbsp. grainy mustard

4-6 Italian-style paste tomatoes, roughly cut up—alternatively use other tomatoes, canned tomatoes, or even some red sauce

boiling water, enough to cover an inch or so above solids in pot

small amount of olive oil

Steps:
Soak the beans overnight, discard the water. Add fresh water and simmer them briefly (maybe 30 mins.) to just barely tender while preheating oven to 350ish. The “right” temperature really varies with the size of pot you are using; you want the beans to bubble.

Put water on to boil.

Coat an oven-proof covered pot, such as a Dutch oven or large Pyrex casserole or ceramic bean pot, with a splash of olive oil. Lay the quartered onions in the bottom. (Note on selecting a pot: There must be enough headroom to put in all ingredients above, plus at least 1 inch above that of boiling water plus clearance to prevent overflows.)

Drain beans; dress them with the other ingredients above (sweeteners and mustard and tomatoes). Pour over the onions.

Pour boiling water over the mixture until it’s an inch or so above the solids.

Cover and bake until done, between two hours and forever.  Many recipes say to leave baked beans uncovered while cooking; doing so, with certain large beans, I have had it take six hours or more. I cover the casserole, and periodically check to see if water is receding…if so, I taste a bean…if not nearly ready, I add more boiling water, often a couple of times.

Once the beans reach an almost-ready tenderness, uncover and turn up heat to 375 the last hour (give or take) to reduce the liquid to a thick, dark brown syrup, turning the ingredients a couple of times to mix everything up.

If the flavor isn’t sweet enough, or tomato-ey enough, or wants salt, add it during this last phase.  Or balance the maple-to-molasses ratio to suit your taste. This is a flexible process, not delicate chemistry. You can even make the beans soupier, with more sauce than I like, by not cooking down so long.

Again: The beans you start with, how well you soak/cook them first, and the vessel you cook in really make the timing and temperature combination vary.  Experiment.

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