In Context: Don’t Tease the Cook

Sometime before the Pandemic I read a New Yorker article about Steve Sando and Rancho Gordo (his bean business).

I’m not a vegetarian—though I did try for about 8 months one year in my young adulthood and I was so anemic from other health factors that I had to give it up and get back on the beef bandwagon.

But throughout my life I have encountered various bean recipes that have intoxicated me. I read the article and decided that I wanted to try some of Sando’s beans. 

He sells what are called “Heirloom” beans. (Yes, I mis-remembered and wrote Heritage on my little note when schooling Dick on why these aren’t “designer” beans.)

In a world where so much of the US food supply becomes tight and tasteless, I love what Sando has done with beans, and how he’s dealt with bean growers; and you can read about it on his website.

Even if you aren’t a vegetarian taste will matter to you; and all the beans I’ve purchased from Rancho Gordo have tasted beyond phenomenal. 

First, even if I don’t pre-soak the beans overnight, they cook up quickly. So quickly (like 90 minutes instead of 4 hours), that I’m constantly surprised. It’s because they are fresher. (Yes dry beans have a freshness timeline too.)

Second they are so tasty.

Rancho Gordo will send you cooking instructions for the “perfect” bean and it involves putting in a mirepoix of onion, celery and diced carrot—but sometimes I don’t even do that and I still get a fantastic bean broth when I cook these beans.

Third, their texture is amazing. With grocery store beans that have been around forever you have to fight to get the bean hydrated to a soft texture. With all the beans I’ve bought from Rancho Gordo there is a point when the bean changes from hard to texturally edible, and all I can say is this is the “non-mush” window of tasty texture that will change your life. Sometimes I make Dick taste a couple beans right out of the pot because I can’t believe how chewy and yet structural they are. It’s incredible. (Every bean pot is an adventure!)

While it’s true with all the RG beans some or their beans are more amazing than others. It might be because I never had them before or maybe, it’s that I haven’t even envisioned a bean like the Royal Corona bean could exist. (At this posting it’s sold out, but go put yourself on the wait list. Really, go do that right now!)

These beans vary a bit in size (as my chart indicates for one of their cousins in my thumbnail sketch), but most of the Royal Corona beans are about the size of my THUMB from the tip to the first joint!

They plump up into something amazing that when cooked is both chewy and pillowy. If you spice it right, they will not only take on flavors but impart their own lovely creaminess. This is the bean other beans want to be when they grow up. Five of them on a small bed of veggies and greens, when dressed with a homemade vinaigrette (preferably made with RG’s Pineapple Vinegar) is a meal. A meal that will keep you going for hours and hours with no cravings. (I find when I eat beans I’m able to control my blood sugar levels better, That’s point 4.)

Look, all this is a lot to write just to post a journal page where I have a quick sketch of a joke I shared with Dick. Will I create a bean poster? Well at some point I probably will because paging through my journals for the last 4 years or so I see a lot of pages devoted to beans. (What’s not to love, their bright colors or patterns, their shape and surface texture…)

When I was a child a Red Delicious Apple was a real treat.

When I came back to this country after a 5.5 year absence they were mealy and inedible. I didn’t know what to think. When the same thing happened to Granny Smiths I was frustrated and stopped baking pies. Apples and other food items we grow here in the US have changed over time. Demand, and the need for things to survive transit has led to a lot of tasteless food out there. As has the public need for everything to be uniform.

I love that I can get beans that taste wonderful on their own or in dishes with other ingredients. I love that I can get beans that don’t turn to mush but instead yield flavorful, satisfying bites. I love that someone is helping to keep bean genetic diversity.

I’m not connected to RG at all, except as a customer. I can’t recommend their quality enough. If you are on the line about eating a vegetarian diet, or you want less animal protein in your diet, this would be the place to start. 

Oh, I don’t recommend putting them into the Instapot. I tried that with an early bunch using a recipe from someone who claimed they were using Rancho Gordo beans—but his times were WAY off. I actually cried when they came out all mushy because they were my favorites and sold out!

I knew it wasn’t the beans because I’d made other batches, but I just thought on that day I needed to “save time.”  

Just cook them in a pot, the “old-fashioned” way. Walk off and do something like write a blog post, sketch your partner, come back and check, go check on something else, maybe make a pan of brownies or bake some bread. It’s a fantastic way to spend a Saturday. Chances are, if you’re like me, you’ve exercised and finished the cook before it’s even noon and have the rest of the day to play. And you have those wonderful beans waiting for you at dinner.