BS: which beans are best?

Subject: BS: which beans are best?
From: jimmyt
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 11:35 AM

I am looking to add some zest to our upcoming Christmas dinner and some folks have suggested I add a bean recipe. Does anyone have special favorite beans and why are they better than, say lima beans. Please help! jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 11:41 AM

Try these black eyed beans, they'll put a parting in your thong!! Yes you did hear correctly I said parting!
Giok ☺

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 11:43 AM

Human beans.;>) Sorry, the five year old in me came out.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: MarkS
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 12:31 PM

Try red beans, as in red beans and rice. Any good cajun or creole cookbook should get your started. Done right this can be a meal in itself.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: DougR
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 01:11 PM

JimmyT: If you are talking about lima beans, or as some of us know them in the U. S.,Butter Beans, IMO they are pretty hard to beat served over hot cornbread (no sugar please) and smothered with chopped onions. To die for. However, the Black-Eyed Pea recipe supplied by John looks awfully tempting. Boiled pinto beans with a bit of smoked hamhock, onion, and some chili poweder is awfully good too.

That about sums up my knowledge of beans.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: dianavan
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 02:10 PM

jimmyt - green beans with almonds would be nice at Christmas.

Other ideas"

green beans in black bean sauce
pickled green beans

But I'm not too sure about those other kinds of beans for Christmas dinner. My kids want burritos but they are very untraditional and love re-fried beans.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 03:24 PM

JimmyT, if you're feeding a crowd, what you want is a CASSOULET, a French bean feast featuring the ubiquitous Great Northern or Navy bean simmered with sausage (at least two kinds), salt pork, bacon and other savoury meats such as lamb or smoked goose. Layered in a tall bean pot and baked for two or three hours ... PM me if you want the recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 03:36 PM

Cuban black beans over white rice!

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 03:41 PM

I love cassoulet; I make cassoulet, and it's hard work but rewarding. Not the sort of thing to accompany another meal but more of a meal in itself!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 03:42 PM

Pinto beans cooked with ham, green (or red) chilies.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:22 PM

Green beans sauteed in butter with Crimini mushrooms. I hear shrieks about the butter, live a little,it's the holidays.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:38 PM

The North African variant is "Ful" (horse bean: Vicia faba minor, Vicia faba equina). Simmer for 24 hours in salted water, then they are a delicious antipasto (do not spit peels on sitting room floor).

My favourite dish: Beans and beef, grunts, for the use of
oil, olive, 1 Tsp
onions, 2 medium size
garlic, min. 1 lump, more al gusto
(for Charmion and other Canadians: I don't know wild onion = Allium canadense, but it sounds interestingly canucky. Try it and tell me)
corned beef, 1 can
kidney beans, 2 cans
tomatoes, peeled, 1 can
Worcester sauce al gusto

dice onions and garlic
fry until glossy
dice corned beef
add to onions and garlic
add beans and tomatoes
when hot apply Worcester sauce freely -> lavishly
serves 2-3

half the measure can be prepared in a canteen
serves you right

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: jimmyt
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:43 PM

wow! Great stuff! keep it coming all you Mudcat Closet Legume gourmets! jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Helen
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:44 PM

I've discovered flageolet beans (to keep some connection to music in this thread!) in a can in the specialty foods section of the supermarket. They are small, green, tender little things which look like they are the little green beans inside the string beans.

They have a delicate flavour and I put them in at the very last stage of cooking just to warm them through.

I concocted a dish for them one day which tasted nice using garlic, onions & ham. Yum!! But they would be good without meat-based flavouring too.

One website I looked up about them called them the "caviar of beans".

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 07:34 PM

Flagolet beans!!! Hahahahaha! How many do they have in them? Any thumb holes?

May I suggest Jimmyt - Coffee Beans!

I used to buy roasted coffee beans dipped in dark chocolate. Talk about caffeine overload!

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: freda underhill
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 07:48 PM

Adzuki beans (used in Japan) are smaller than red beans, more nutritious and more digestible. In Asia, they are known as the merecedes of beans - and i have heard somewhere that they are very high in anti-oxidants.

Winter Adzuki Fried Rice
Ingredients:

    * 3 cups cooked brown rice and adzuki beans
    * 1 sheet nori (seaweed), toasted and torn into small pieces
    * 2 tablespoon sesame seeds, roasted
    * 1/4 cup onions, diced
    * 1/4 cup squash or pumpkin, diced
    * 1/2 cup scallion or leeks, finely chopped
    * 2 tablespoon dark sesame oil
    * 2 to 3 tablespoon water
    * tamari soy sauce

Directions:

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet. Add the onions and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Place the squash or pumpkin and rice on top of the onions. Add several drops of water and several drops of soy sauce. Cover and reduce the flame to low. Steam the rice and vegetables until hot. Remove the cover, and place the scallions or leeks on top of the rice. Add several more drops of soy sauce. Cover and cook 1 to 2 minutes until the scallions or leeks are tender and bright green. Remove the cover, mix in the sesame seeds, and place in a serving dish.

yum

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Helen
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 07:54 PM

By the way, I think the canned flageolet beans would be better than the dried beans, which I haven't tried yet, because they are so tender and the taste is so delicate. The drying process and then cooking for a long time would make them completely different to the fresh cooked ones.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 08:07 PM

Possum 'n bean casserole, JimmyT, will isure that yer contribution will bne remembered down thru the ages...

But better "secure" yer possum early 'cause theyz purdy greasy and yer gonna have to cook him down slowly fir several days at low heat to get most then fat off him then...

Yer gonna need 'bout 4 pounds of pole beans 'er green beanas that is kinda flat rather than round... Thems is the best...

Okay, I'm assumin' that you had dressed out yer possum before cookin' off the greases... If not, yer gonna need 'nuther possum cuase you cant's cook him down with innards and fir....

Maybe should have told you that first...

So, now here you got dressed possum and he been cooked down.... Take off his hind kegs and his shoulder and throwed them in the pot... The rest of Mr. Possum you can trowed out the back door an' another possum will come long and eat him...

So just add a little water and cook him down some more until the meat come right off the possum bones....

Now yer ready... Put everything thru a strainer and now you have some fine possum meat....

Now, take you a can of chicken broth and handfull of salt and the possum meat and throwed it in a bucket and lwet it set uotside overnight to brine up good....

Nect mornin' you take them flat pole beans and sautee 'um up with a little extra virgin olive oil and some garlic, salt and pepper... If you got that lemon pepper, use it....

Now, after that you fetch the possum meat off the back porch and you put it in a stariner and let it drain down real good...

Now, you put a layer of bean in the bootom of the casserole dish and then a layer of possum, then a lyer of grated parmasean cheeze, then another layer of the bean topped with them dried onions you get in a can fir like 29 cents... Sprinkle with a little salt and lemopn pepper and a little more cheeze and bake at 350 fir 20 minites and....

Yummy time....

But here's the best part... Don't tell nobody what they eatin' un til afterwards and then the fun begins...

Goood luck and happy huntin'

Bobert

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 08:28 PM

After you've been eating steak for a long time...
Beans taste fine. (Shel Silverstein)

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: open mike
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 08:39 PM

maybe you better save the black eyed peas for new years
the hoppin john made with them is a traditional good luck charm!

and the lovely and lowly soy bean is one of the ingredients in
tofurky...sure to be a hit! www.tofurky.com

this is a great main dish for anyone who chooses not to eat meat.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 10:57 PM

Black bean soup.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 11:01 PM

Cool beans.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: dianavan
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 12:16 AM

bean sprouts on the top of the salad.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: GUEST,Stoopid Hillbilly
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 01:53 AM

Beans, beans,
They're the musical fruit.
The more you eat,
The more you toot!

Beans, beans,
They're good for your heart.
The more you eat,
the more you fart!

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 01:36 PM

Bobert, so I did that. But in the morning when I went out to bring in my bucket of possum there was another possum in it. I had to start all over. How long can I keep this up?

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 01:45 PM

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats might help you Ebbie, no mention of beans though. Do they have 9 lives??
Giok ☺

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 03:04 PM

Never mind all these fancy beans.

Heinz baked beanz. The ultimate comfort food for me.

With an fried egg on top on saturdays.

On toast.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: jimmyt
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 03:10 PM

Thank you all for all the insight related to the Eclectic Legume quest, 2005 Jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 03:36 PM

RED BEANS AND RICE

2 lbs. dried red beans (kidney)
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 bunch scallions (green onions) chopped
3-4 finely sliced cloves of garlic (or more)
1 bunch parsley (chopped)
3 lbs. smoked sausage cut in 2" lengths
   (smoked ham or a ham bone OK)
3 quarts cold water

Soak beans overnight if possible. Drain water and add beans to a large (8 qt.) pot. Add enough of the cold water to cover the beans. Add chopped yellow onions and garlic and bring to a boil. Cook one hour and add the other things and more water if necessary. Simmer (slight bubbling action) for 2 more hours or until beans are soft. Then remove 2 cups of cooked beans without juice and mash very good. Then return the mashed up beans to the pot and stir into the mixture. This makes a creamy,thicker gravy.
If the beans are too dry, add enough water to make them like you like them. Good over boiled rice (Brown rice tasty but not New Orleans style). Serves 8.

From "White Trash Cooking," E. M. Mickler

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Peace
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 03:41 PM

Keep in mind that if you are cooking starting with dried beans, your altitude may extend cooking time )if you don't use a pressure cooker to do 'em". Thus the expression, tough beans.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: DougR
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 12:22 AM

Hmm. Your recipe for possom and beans explains a lot, Bobert. :>)

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Emma B
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 12:23 PM

for a salad course to put you "in the pink"

Russian Red Beans -

8oz (1 cup) of red kidney beans soaked and drained
1pt (2 1/2 cups) water
.........cook until tender and drain.

dressing -

2 medium raw beetroots
1 onion
5 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
..........grate the beetroot, slice the onion and mix with the cooked beans. Toss in the sour cream and sprinkle with the caraway seeds. Serve with a green salad and French fries

My personal favourite - Byesar (Moroccan)

similar to hummus but uses dried Fava beans instead of chick peas

4oz dried beans soaked and drained
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 teasp cumin seeds
4 tablespoons good olive oil
cayenne pepper and mint leaves to garnish

Put the soaked and drained beans in a pan with the with the garlic and cumin and add enough water to just cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Drain, cool and slip off the outer skin of each bean.
Process in a blender/ food processor gradually adding the olive oil (and a little water if necessary) until smooth and soft. Garnish and scoop up the dip with pieces of spicy bread

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Allan C.
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 12:26 PM

I echo the recommendations for red beans and rice, Cajun style. However, my personal favorites are dishes of any sort that are made with black beans. I think they are far more flavorful than virtually any other, black-eyed peas being a possible exception. Perhaps you happened to taste the chile con carne at the Getaway. That was made with a three to one mix of black and red beans. It was one of the best I've ever made. The rate with which the gallon and a half of it disappeared is evidence that others agreed.

In the long run, Jim, the choice of beans is (or should be, IMHO,) dependent upon the application. Some recipes cry out for Navy beans; others for fava or kidney or whatever else. Still others are best with a mixture of beans.

Speaking of the Getaway, I'm just now thinking that next year I'll bring my all time favorite: Brazilian Black Beans and Rice.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 06:41 PM

So Peace, does that mean tall people always take longer?

I'm tall.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Peace
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 07:02 PM

Jaysus, Robin, jaysus.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Grab
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 01:37 PM

Tesco's own brand baked beans. But not with Xmas dinner...

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: MudGuard
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 03:07 PM

As "beans" (english) means "Bohne" (german), I suggest "Cognacbohnen" [1]



















[1] Dark chocolate in bean form, filled with Cognac.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: kendall
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 04:45 PM

State of Maine brand "Jacobs Cattle". They have no equal. On top of that, they cause a minimum of gas. If you can't get them, try their "Soldier" beans.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 06:43 PM

A whole bunch of mixed in beans rather than one sort.

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 11:39 PM

I didn't know beans about this topic, but after reading this thread, I do !

Art

Subject: Green Beans a la Bard...
From: Bard Judith
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 12:07 AM

Judith's Green Beans Almondine

- Green beans, French-cut (you can buy fresh and cut them yourself, or a good bag of the frozen kind if you are not a food snob. The nutrient value is the same...and with the sauce I'm going to describe you won't taste any difference...)
- Fresh slivered almonds (fresh IS important here or you get a nasty stale taste in the whole dish)
- about a teaspoon of good peanut butter
- a quarter-cup of butter (not margarine)
- sea salt / peppercorns / dash of hot sauce


Heat up two burners - one with a big pot of water, one with a frying pan with a quarter-cup of butter (yeah, yeah, real butter).

Watch the butter like a hawk - it has to brown very dark and just begin to give off a smoky smell but NOT burn or go black!

While you are watching, the pot of water should boil at some point. Dump in your bag of green beans and cook as long as instructed on the bag. Keep watching that butter!

OK, the butter is perfect! Turn off the heat under the frying pan, stir in the spoon of peanut butter and let it melt and combine.

Pour the mixture out into a clean dish. Turn on the burner again, toss a little more butter in (just a half-teaspoon or so) the frypan and saute the almonds till just browned and going crispy.   Turn off the heat. Dump the melted butter/peanut butter back into the pan over the almonds. Add the dash of hot sauce, some sea salt, grind fresh pepper to taste over the mixture... and a bit of juice obtained by scraping across the top of a cut onion adds interest.

Your green beans should be bright green and still crispy but cooked by now, if you've been paying attention to the time. Drain them when they are ready (yeah, turn off the burner there too) and pour the Almondine sauce over them just before serving. They look pretty in contrast, so don't 'toss to coat' until they are actually on the table and people are ready to dig in.

You can garnish with a couple of rings of purple onion and red pepper - veddy pretty!

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 12:23 AM

Seem to run into the green beans-slivered almonds a lot, but the recipe given here by Bard Judith is the first I've seen that looks really good!

Subject: RE: BS: which beans are best?
From: mg
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 12:37 AM

I vote for the green beans almondine...yum...I think other sorts of beans would not be a great idea if you were having a fairly rich traditional selection of foods..but i would definitely cook the black eyed peas on new year's...but youwere going to weren't you anyway/?