Beans!

Hi there,

Sorry I missed you all last night.  I did make beans; I just didn't feel like writing about them when they were done.

So these were black beans from scratch.  I soaked them overnight, drained off the soaking water, and added about 8 c. of water to a pot with 2 c. of the soaked beans.  Then I put in a ham hock, brought it to a boil, and turned it down to a simmer for about 2 hours, setting the pot lid slightly ajar. If you can get it, adding a couple tablespoons of epazote spice greatly reduces some of the...er...bean side effects later.

At the end of Hour 1, I opened the pot to discover the ham hock had turned an alarming shade of blue, as if I had immersed a Smurf in the pot by accident.  At the 90- minute mark, I threw in some salt, black pepper and two bay leaves.  I hold off salt until near the end because adding it too early makes the beans tough, in some people's opinion.  By 2 hours, the ham hock was just plain black, which was a great improvement, to my way of thinking.

When the ham hock is fork-tender, the beans will be done -- but you shouldn't take my word for it -- check and make sure they're cooked through.  The bigger the beans, the longer they take.  When the hock's done, take it out.  You now have two choices.  You can shred the meat and toss it back in (which I do on the grounds I hate to waste anything).  It's up to you if you want to chop up the rind and include it as well.  But if you taste it, you'll find it's given off most of its flavor to the pot of beans, as was intended, and you can decide to throw it away.  You can serve the beans with or without the cooking liquid, too.  It's nice to sop up the broth with some garlic bread.

I hope you'll take some time to make beans from scratch.  Canned ones are fine, but it's nice to be able to control how much sodium is in there and what other flavors you want to add.  It's also much less expensive.

Until next time, I'll see you at the market!