Basic White Beans with Ham Hocks
Canned beans can’t compete with dried ones on flavor, versatility, or price. Cooking times for dried beans vary greatly depending on the variety and on how long they have been stored: the fresher they are, the faster they cook. This recipe can be used with any white-ish or cranberry-type bean, and the general method can be used for any dried beans with variations on the seasonings: pair pink varieties like pintos or kidneys with smoked bacon, oregano, and beer; season pale green flageolets with stewed leeks and fennel. Heirloom Beans, by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo, is a good resource for bean cookery.
Beans and Grains: Since this cooking is so elemental, the quality of the ingredients is especially important. Beans and grains can hibernate in the distribution pipeline for years, so try to buy from a store that has high turnover or from mail-order sources that grow their own. Heirloom beans from growers like Rancho Gordo in California and old-fashioned grains from Anson Mills in South Carolina are a breed apart. At Anson Mills, Glenn Roberts mills a whole galaxy of insanely flavorful grains, including Carolina Gold rice, which was regarded as the finest rice in the world until the Civil War. Simply boiled and served with a little butter and salt, the rice—known in South Carolina as “Charleston ice cream”—is an incredible meal all by itself. Working with about thirty organic growers in six states, Glenn also cultivates brawny whole hominy grits and other vanishing varieties of corn, rice, and wheat, Japanese buckwheat, French oatmeal, and Italian farro. He is also bringing back tiny Sea Island red peas—the rich, nutty relation of today’s bland yet stinky commercial black-eyed pea and the original pea used for hoppin’ John. While field peas thrive here in the Carolinas, our sticky clay soils and pests make growing regular shell beans, like navy, pinto, and black beans, a challenge, but there are many small-scale artisan producers cropping up in bean-growing parts of the country. I mail-order ours from Rancho Gordo, where they grow and sell fast-cooking “fresh” dried beans in varieties like the rosy, juicy Lila and the meaty Scarlet Runner.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 quarts, with liquid
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Pick through the beans and remove any debris. If you have time to soak the beans overnight, place them in a large pot, add cold water to cover generously, and let sit for 12 hours or overnight. Otherwise, to quick-soak the beans, put them in a heavy 6-quart pot and add water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat off. Let soak for 1 hour and then drain in a colander.
Step 2
Whichever method you used, drain the beans, return them to the pot, and cover with water by about 1 inch. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for several minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the top. Add the ham hocks if you are using them, along with the carrot, onion, garlic, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, and chile. Simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour or longer, until the beans are nearly tender, adding a little water as necessary along the way so that the beans remain submerged. When the beans are tender but still just slightly too firm to eat, add the lemon zest, white wine, and 2 tablespoons salt and continue to simmer until they are completely cooked. Adjust the seasoning and remove the carrot, onion, garlic, celery, bay leaves, chile, and as many of the peppercorns as you easily find.
Step 3
If you find that the beans are done before the ham hocks are completely tender, transfer the hocks to a small saucepan along with some bean cooking liquid and additional water to cover. Simmer gently until the meat is fork-tender; let the hocks cool in the broth; and then return the broth to the beans. Remove the meat from the bones and return the meat to the beans or reserve it for use in Macaroni with Beans, Roasted Pumpkin, and Ham Hocks (page 182).
