Crescent Dragonwagon - Bean By Bean: A Cookbook: More than 175 Recipes for Fresh Beans, Dried Beans, Cool Beans, Hot Beans, Savory Beans, Even Sweet Beans!

Crescent Dragonwagon

Workman Publishing New York

Copyright 2011 by Crescent Dragonwagon

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data is available.

eISBN 9780761168706

Cover design by Faceoutstudio
Cover photo composite:
pixelsaway/Veer
StockFood
Brian Leatart/FoodPix/Getty Images
Illustrations copyright by Eleanor Davis

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following:

: Excerpted from Speaking of Soup: The Culinary Approach to Spanish by Calvin Trillin. Copyright 2005 by Calvin Trillin. Originally appeared in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of Lescher & Lescher, Ltd. All rights reserved.

: Excerpt from 4,000 Noodles Found in China by John Roach. Published 2005 National Geographic News.

: Excerpt from Cress Delahanty by Jessamyn West. 1948, renewed 2006 by Jessamyn West. Reprinted by permission of The Feminist Press.

: Excerpt from Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami. 2005 by Laila Lalami. Reprinted by permission of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. All rights reserved.

: Excerpt from Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber. 2003 by Diana Abu-Jaber. Reprinted by permission.

: Excerpt from Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tastes of the Jewish South by Marcie Cohen Ferris. 2005 by Marcie Cohen Ferris. Reprinted by permission.

All efforts have been made to secure permission for the excerpts in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the author will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements.

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On this, my 50th published book, its dawned on me that usually, the writers nearest, dearest friends and family appear last in acknowledgments, by which time theyre usually reduced to words cannot express... Im reversing this unfair practice while I still have plenty of words. Thank you, David R. Koff: taster of virtually every recipe here, annual putter-upper of poles, around which grateful beans of countless varieties have joyfully twirled for... lets see, can it be nine years? The beans are not the only grateful ones, David. Life sent us a Black Valentine; how tender and succulent is this surprising, prolific pod we continue opening.

Thank you, Charlotte Zolotow: now a very old bean (96)you grow dearer and dearer to me and, in altered state, continue to surprise, delight, and inspire me... perhaps even more than when you were in your so-called right mind. Thank you, Hawa Diallo, to whom one day Charlotte said, Im adopting you! Hawa, how glad I am that Charlotte made sisters of us, though wed already done so. Thank you for peanut butter stew, black-eyed pea fritters, late-night conversations, walks, workouts, and mornings of dancing and singing with me, Charlotte, and Youssou Ndour. Peace and love! Long may we both keep cooking for, and feasting at, lifes mysterious and abundant table. Amen.

And Chou! Thank you, Chou-Chou Yearsley, you strang of purls you. Maker of pies, finder of paise, old, good friend, co-adventurer, compadre in mischief-making, stalwart during hard times. Life has certainly put us on to soak and simmer, together and separately. Are we tender yet? I would say so. And part of the reason I can say so is because we have known tough as well as tender. Sweet, the Sweetness, as well as bitter.

Thank you, Judith Reichsman, my darling Vermont jumping bean, dancing bean, sweet and sustaining bean... We have proved, in summer, that she who laps last laps best, and in winter, that snow-covered capsicums are chilly peppers indeed. Amoro grando por allo seasonales, Judeborita!

Now. A capitalized THANK YOU to you, Edite Kroll. With all the changes in our industry and our lives, where would I be, and how could I bear being there, without your tough-minded, tender-hearted self? Integrity, loyalty, smartness, general kick-ass attitudeyou steadily live this amidst the changes, a be-here-now Zen bean in a very, very no-nonsense business pod. Not everyone can stand up to a dragon, but not only do you, fearlessly, but I would never ever dream of exhaling you into toast! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gaelen and Richard, keepers of the cairns, the most neighborly neighbors I have ever had... thank you. May we keep sharing many figurative bouquets of vernal wildflowers, and wintertime pots of beansfor you two only, made without garlic.

Where acknowledgments in this particular book are concerned, the praises of the core cadre of my Facebook pals30 or 40 of you, you know who you aremust be sung loud and clear. You are actual, not cyber, pals; how I love our close-in-conversation back-and-forths, even though we are scattered all over the globe. Your consistent encouragement, ideas, advice, tweaks, witticisms; your expressed enthusiasm for this project (and previous ones) when it remained, interminably it felt, like a book-to-beI am so grateful. The long, slow period between a books caterpillar and butterfly phases is dark, cramped, and isolated. But you guys! I could always hear you cheering just outside the cocoon. May I live up to all your kind and generous words, and may every recipe nourish and delight you.

Now, on to the kitchen. Servings (with seconds and thirds) to all those whove generously shared recipes: Dee Mulvahill (and her friend Fern), Gina Meadows, Ellen Levine, Genie Reece (where are you, Genie?), Lisa Esposito (you poet-of-the-bean-and-carnitas-you), neighbor Dorothy Read, Nanci McDermott (the security guy, too... thanks again), Jennifer Yaukapolus, David Levington and Ellen Greenlaw, Jill Nusinow, and Julie Reimer. Ruth Eichor, Elsie Freund, and David Yearsley, special posthumous thanksmay you rest all the better for knowing we enjoy, still, the same good foods you once cooked for us. Thanks, too, to those who shared quotes (especially Diane Abu-Jaber; our inadvertent e-conversation has been a pleasure), information, kindness, and enthusiasm.

And now to the world beyond the kitchen: Thanks to Workman Publishing, with whom I have been traveling for a long, long time. Frijole-decorated acknowledgments go to the usual suspects, Suzanne Rafer and Kylie Foxx McDonald. A few new ones: Kathie Ness, thank you for bringing respect and clarity to chaos. Bob Miller, you confidence-instiller you, I am very glad you are part of Workman. Rebecca Carlisle, you are one smart, energized, on-it, alert, innovative, thoughtful, well-organized, enthusiastic cookie. And I am loving working with your on-it self. Dear Workmaniacs, may we continue to work together in ever-new configurations as collaborators and colleagues. And, as always, thank you, Peter Workman, original usual suspect/Workmaniac, for recognizing me back in the way-back, when I hadnt even yet germinated into sprouthood.

May all of us, like beans, continue to nourish each other as we are nourishing the world around us, in every phase. Bit by bit, bite by bite, bean by bean.

INTRODUCTION
How to Know Beans

CHAPTER 1
Bean Basics

A primer for all things bean. Everything youve ever wondered about selecting, preparing, cooking, and storing dried beans, fresh beans, shell beans, canned beans, and dehydrated beansincluding, yes, a revolutionary method for making beans more belly friendly.