Guess what? You’re trendy! According to Bon Appetite magazine and CBS News’ The Early Show, heirloom beans are hot!
They don’t mention our name but you can see the words Rancho Gordo front and center.
A huge thanks to Bon Appetit Magazine’s Andrew Knowlton for spreading the word.
I’ll start actual entries again after the new year.
San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market:
Despite the forecast of rain tomorrow, I’ll be there with all the usual fare, including tortillas and chips.
Food + Wine Magazine:
Did you see us in the January issue? Quite a nice spread. I’ll post the delicious recipe soon.
Hope you have a great holiday!
Hope you have a great holiday!
In the beautiful state of Michoacan, the indigenous Purepecha kitchen includes a delilcious beef and chile stew called Churipo.
When I was in Uruapan last April, this bowl of red was one of the culinary highlights. Also served with it were the tamales of the region known as corundas.
Daniel Hoyer’s book Culinary Mexico
Too many eggs is too good a problem. I’ve been going through Michel Roux’s wonderful book,
Eggs and I’ve been practicing the most basic techniques and experimenting with trickier dishes like soufflés (which are actually quite easy, despite the fussy reputation.)
I’m pretty open-minded. I can understand religious zealots and atheists, Republicans and Democrats, toilet paper over or under, town and country, casual and formal but I do not understand people who don’t like a runny yolk. Don’t think of it as undercooked egg. It’s an easy sauce! Pretty, thick and tasty- who could ask for more? Anyway, since my eggs are so pure, I’ve been poaching them in water with a touch of vinegar and resting them over some substantial beans, like these Red Nightfalls.
What a sublime breakfast!
It’s that time of year when the prickly pears are swollen and ripe and begging to be picked. I feel a but pretentious calling them tunas when we have the name prickly pear in English, but I don’t care for prickly pear. My life is full of many of these little dramas.
I singed the outsides of the pears with a flame, cut them in half and then scooped out the insides into a copper pot. The spent skins went to the chickens.
I cooked them for about an hour and then put them through a food mill before cooking them for another 2 hours. The reduction it makes is glorious and sweet. It tastes familiar and tropical and yet it’s like nothing else. I made popsicles for the kids and a tequila drink for me.
At the farmers market, I bought one of those dreamy St Benoit plain yogurts and mixed in some of the prickly pear reduction. Sometimes you just get inspired and reach great heights.
I love the taste, the sustainability aspect and of course the fact that they’re indigenous, but apparently new research shows that you can actually lower your cholesterol by eating a prickly pear. I don’t think we should think of them as exotic much longer.
I recently received this email:
I made a pot of the Good Mother Stallard beans over the weekend. Did a
2 day soak and they still took (what I consider) a long time to reach
tenderness – more than 2 hours. I used the cassoulet beans and other
such that I bought without incident. What should I do next time?
The breakdown
Cover in cold water for 24 hrs, added water and let sit another 24 hours.
Drained
and added to pot of half water/half chicken stock. Boiled for about 10
mins then sent on med-low to cook in cover pot. After 90 mins, still
slightly hard. Kicked it up to med heat for another 45 and achieved the
desired tenderness. Is it just the bean or did I do something incorrect.
I’ve said it before, but beans harvested within two years and stored properly don’t need much soaking. Harold McGee in his classic On Food and Cooking says the bulk of the rehydration occurs within the first two hours. My very unscientific theory is that the fresh beans start to ferment or start the first stages of sprouting when you soak them so long. For what it’s worth, I soak 2-4 hours and Joan, who runs our Operations, never soaks at all.
Shhhh! Don’t tell but I bought one of those monster pork shoulders at Costco. I made fair carnitas with half of it but what to do with the rest? I ground it up using my Kitchen Aid Food Grinder attachment
Chorizo and eggs with Rancho Gordo tortilla chips for breakfast.
It’s time again for the Menu for Hope charity for the UN World Food Program. This year Rancho Gordo will be donating a fancy sampler, planned just for this event.
Prize Code UW28
Rancho Gordo Menu for Hope Sampler
includes:
More information is at the Rasa Malaysia site. Good luck!
Rancho Gordo: Experiments from my mostly New World kitchen and gardens 