Bean cookbook (700 views)

Julie,

I am a bean freak!! I highly recommend Rancho Gordo beans. They are a bit more expensive than the ordinary supermarket beans, but worth the price in freshness and quality. And they are still a cheap source of protein when you figure a one pound bag usually nets me 6-7 c. cooked beans which is usually stretched pretty far when you use them in a dish/recipe. Cranberry beans are a nice start....not my most favorite bean, but very versatile. They would be nice in a minestrone or Tuscan style soup/recipe. I find them a bit more tricky than some in terms of the cooking time. They can go from done to mushy/falling apart quickly if you don't keep an eye on them. I tend to go for the bigger "meatier" beans at R.G. Some of my favorites are Good Mother Stallard, Rio Zape, Eye of Goat, Royal Cornona, Scarlet runner and the list goes on and on. I also have their first bean cookbook which I have used and enjoyed, but to be honest most of the bean recipes that I make come from a wide variety of sources from general or vegetarian cookbooks, blogs, internet sites, and some just made up in my head!!! Here is the link to R.G. website:


www.ranchogordo.com/

Hope you enjoy the world of beans!
Karen

I have SOOOOOOOOO many bean cookbooks! I will try to take some time tomorrow and see if I have any favorites.
I love cranberry beans (they are called Borlotti beans in Italy). Karen is right, they can cook up really quickly and mush up, but I don't mind mush. I think of it as refried beans the easy way
I got my beans from Bob's Red Mill on line and they sell a few other heritage beans. If you have a grocer that sells this brand, it may help you try a few before ordering from RG.
You can always google a specific bean and find recipes on the internet and start your own collection. With all my cookbooks, I've gotten to automatically searching for something specific and then saving it.

Thanks you guys for all the great info! I'm just looking for inspiration to shake up my current (boring) routine of rotating black beans, cannelinis and blackeyed peas. We love them all but I need to expand my repertoire! I'm on a mission to make sure we eat a cup of some kind of beans every day.

karenw I'm intrigued by all those different kinds of beans! I haven't heard of any of them!! Thanks for the link to the web site.
Thanks applecrisp1 I'll see if my library has that book.
wallycat I usually get my beans from Bob's Red Mill too. That's the brand of cranberry beans I bought at Whole Foods. I checked their web site this morning and they had a good sounding recipe for a soup with the these beans.

I was going to pop in and suggest Rancho Gordo but see Karen beat me to it. I noticed she posted the link to their website but there is also a blog that I enjoy:
www.ranchogordoblog.com/

Thanks applecrisp1 for the other book suggestions! I already put the other book on hold from the library. The Crescent Dragwagon sounds especially interesting as I've made some of her recipes from the Cornbread Gospels.

Cooking beans from dried is very easy, especially if you have a pressure cooker. You can soak them for a long time first, or the method I use is to rinse the beans and then put them in my pressure cooker covered with plenty of water. Bring to a boil and let them boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, put on the lid and let soak for 3 or 4 hours or all day. Then when you're ready to prepare dinner just drain and rinse the beans and cover again in the pot with fresh water. You can add other ingredients at this point except salt and acidic foods. I usually throw in a large chopped onion, a couple of bay leaves and minced garlic. Then just bring to pressure and cook for approximately 12 minutes depending on which type of bean you're cooking. So easy! It takes longer to get the pot to pressure than it does to cook them. My pressure cooker is not huge, I think it's a 6 quart. And I can cook 4 cups of dry beans in it at one time, which makes a LOT of beans so I have plenty for leftovers.