Slow food at its best
Meals that take hours to cook seldom take more than a few minutes of actual preparation time. Among the best-known and best-loved of these are baked beans and stews. Long, slow simmering blends and enhances flavors that commercial products only wish they could imitate!
Dry beans
Cooking time for dry beans depends on where they were grown, and their age. The best will be beans that grew in your own garden, last summer, although properly stored dry legumes (peas, beans and lentils) will keep for several years. They will cook faster and be more tender if soft water is used.
There are also differences between varieties. If you buy beans in a supermarket, you might be limited to the standard navy type, which is one of the toughest. But grow your own and you can have dozens of choices, such as Jacobs Cattle, cannelino, flageolet, yellow eye, borlotto, and many others. Proponents of slow food will appreciate the subtle differences of each variety.
Traditionally, dry beans are washed and cleaned, picking out small stones and stems commonly found in this "natural product of the earth," as one commercial producer puts it, and then soaking in water to cover, overnight. (Remember that the beans will absorb a great deal of water as they soak.) Then bring to a slow boil in the soaking water, and simmer.
If you forget to plan ahead, the beans can be added to rapidly boiling water, slowly, so the water doesn't stop boiling. Bring to a strong boil again, then lower the heat so they just simmer.
As a rule of thumb, for four servings use two cups of dry beans and one quart of water.
Baked Beans
Soak overnight:
2 cups dried beans
Add water to cover, if necessary, and bring to a boil, then lower the heat so they gently simmer. After about half an hour, place a few beans on a spoon and blow on them. If the skins burst, they are cooked.
Drain, reserving the water, and add:
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 lb. sliced or diced salt pork
2-3 tablespoons molasses or brown sugar or some of each
2-3 tablespoons catsup
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of the reserved bean water (or tomato sauce)
Optional: 1 teaspoon curry powder; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 cup diced carrots; dried or canned tomatoes
Place in a greased cast iron Dutch oven or baking dish. Bake, covered, at 250&#deg;, for 6-8 hours. If they become too dry add more bean water, ham stock, or tomato juice. Bake uncovered for the last 1/2 hour.
The long cooking time makes this an ideal wintertime dish for simmering on top of the wood stove. Use a cast iron Dutch oven if at all possible, and if necessary to keep them from boiling, a trivet.
You may also add diced or sliced ham, pork hocks or chops, hot dogs or other sausage such as bologna or kielbasa.
This is also an excellent way to use (and disguise) that leftover Y2K Spam you've been wondering what to do with (if you didn't use it during this winter's ice storms). Slices can be placed on top of the beans when they're about halfway through cooking, or mix in diced meat.
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