Paper Palate

I have a confession to make. I’m obsessed with beans. I have been ever since my mother set that first bowl of doctored Van Camp’s Pork and Beans in front of me. Her method was to take the can of beans, dump it into a saucepan, and throw in some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder and dried onion flakes.

I can still remember the day I tried them straight out of the can. They were pale and mealy and had none of that sweet BBQ flavor the doctored beans had. I think that is the birth of my obsession. How could something so drab and tasteless in the can be converted so quickly into one of my favorite foods?

As an adult, I never had much luck with beans, so I rarely cooked them. But whenever I came across a bean cookbook, I would spend hours going through it, trying to imagine what each dish would taste like, picturing myself soaking and cooking all of these lovely bean dishes, knowing I never would. Whatever deep hidden desire was driving my obsession wasn’t strong enough to actually get me into the kitchen, beyond an occasional foray into black bean chili and pinto beans with rice.

And after a while, all of the recipes started to look the same, using the same ingredients with the same beans. To be fair to all of those bean cookbook authors, it’s probably just because I had looked through so many of them without really using them that the differences between recipes was harder for me to discern. But it may be why I never really felt the urge to try many of the recipes: I felt like I’d already had them too many times. And after reading every introduction, I felt like I knew everything there was to know about beans.

When I got a copy of Aliza Green’s new cookbook Beans: More than 200 Delicious, Wholesome Recipes from Around the World, I thought I knew what to expect when I opened it up and started to read. But I was surprised. In my first flip through the recipes, I saw words like hazelnuts, scallops, and truffles flash by. I saw Paella, and Chicken Pot Pie. So I slowed down and started going through the book at a more leisurely pace.

The usual standards were there–Black Bean Soup, Three-bean Chili, Hummus, Pasta e Fagioli. But there was so much more. Frittata with Romano Beans, Prosciutto, and Fontina. Spinach and Beef Filet Tip Salad with Fermented Black Beans. Spiced Duck in Port Wine Sauce with Green Lentils and Savoy Cabbage.

This woman knows her beans. The introductory chapter packs a lot of information in a small amount of space. I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about beans, but I found some interesting things I didn’t know.

A remarkable and as yet unexplained sign of their status in the ancient world is the fact that each of the four major legumes known to Rome lent its name to a prominent Roman family: Fabius comes from the faba bean, Lentulus from the lentil, Piso from the pea, and Cicero from the chickpea.

The next chapter in the book, “A Legume Primer,” offers detailed information about every bean in each legume family. In addition, each section lists the recipes for each bean for easy reference.

If you aren’t a bean fan, this book could change your views. These recipes are anything but dull. There are many beans cookbooks that promise to provide recipes for beans that are out of the ordinary and will change your opinion of the ordinary bean. This one delivers.

I made two of the soup recipes from this book, and I loved both of them. I look forward to exploring many more of the culinary delights Aliza Green has to offer in her wonderful contribution to the world of beans.

Rating: 9.5

Pros: Comprehensive, detailed information. A diverse range of recipes that offer new ways to prepare an old ingredient.

Cons: The only thing that would improve this cookbook would be to have more pictures.

Beans: More than 200 Delicious, Wholesome Recipes from Around the World, by Aliza Green (Running Press, 2004).