Another vegetable thread.

[amar]

That's one strange pinto bean plant there, Cranberry. Could it be the elusive strawberry pinto?

Grandma use to always have strings of pintos still in the hull of course, hanging to dry in a spare room of her house.



As for green beans, my favorite is the half-runner. Can't beat them fresh out of the garden cooked with a little fat back and served up with sweet corn and tomatos since they are usually ready at the same time. Ummm.

If all I had to eat were the green beans cooked like they do in the northern reaches, forget it. There's no comparison.

I don't know what makes them particularly "strawberry" but I've eaten them before...they're certainly pinto beans.

I would never in my life put cow fat (or pig fat) in them, though. That's like contamination or something.

I love cowfat. Especially the that nice fatty eye you find in a rib-eye steak!!
yummmmmmmmmm!!!!

I guess it would go well with pinto beans.

[Flyingcursor]

Thanks for the reminder. I have some pinto beans, (as seen in Cran's first photo), waiting to be cooked. I really like cooking them with hocks but it's nearly impossible to find hocks around here. I've used pig's feet before but I don't like them as well as hocks.

Here's a question I've had that maybe someone can answer. Should you, or should you not, add salt to dried pinto beans while they are soaking or cooking?

[spittin_in_the_wind]

I put some blackeyed peas in the beef stew last night...it was really good!
Robin

[amar]

I put some blackeyed peas in the beef stew last night...it was really good!
Robin

aww..poor fella..

[cowtime]

Here's a question I've had that maybe someone can answer. Should you, or should you not, add salt to dried pinto beans while they are soaking or cooking?

Just checked with the "cook"/husband- No to adding salt to the water when you soak them overnight. Yes to when they are cooking. Of course the salted fat back will add some salt to the beans too.

I always took the shortcut with pinto beans- or as they are known around here "soup beans". I skipped the overnight soak and cooked them in the pressure cooker. The only thing I don't like about them is "looking" them to pick out the ones that don't look too good or the little gravels that sometimes end up in the bag with the beans.

Oh and yuck to adding beef fat to anything that it was not originally attached to. (I'm with you Amar on the rib-eye)

Fatty salt cured pork meat though is a great seasoning.

[Wombat]

What Americans call black-eyed peas are called black-eyed beans elsewhere, although I've only seen them used a lot in Britain. Where I think people of West Indian extraction tend to eat them a lot. I rather like them but you have to remind yourself that they aren't anywhere near as robust as other beans and need less cooking time.

Is there any clear difference between beans and peas or is it just a matter of custom which term we use for particular pulses?

Just an off the wall comment but wouldn't adding salt to soaking water slow the rate of absorbtion thus defeating the purpose?

[anniemcu]

Oh my heavens. I just clicked it again and looked. I am so retarded. Yes, yes, I pick pinto beans from strawberry plants. I have no idea how I didn't notice that. LMAO.

This one is from the same site : http://users.tcworks.net/~dandacrum/gar ... 0beans.jpg

[Doug_Tipple]

The old man who build my parent's home was a bachelor, like myself. In his elder years, we would go over to his house and ask him if he needed any food or anything else. Out of all the things that he could ask for, I can still here him say, "Do you have any of those shelley beans?" The shelley beans that are sold in the supermarket contain both the green beans and the mature shelled beans that look like pinto beans.

Beans are a great food, high in fiber with lots of beneficial nutrients. I like to keep different dry foods in glass jars around my kitchen, mainly because I enjoy looking at how beautiful they are. Lately, I have been buying red lentils at the ethnic section of my supermarket. They look like little jewels. Because they are so small they cook quickly for beans. I can cook a cup of red lentils in the microwave in about 10 minutes. This is a staple in India, and it is called dahl, I believe. I always get it when I go to the Indian buffets near the Purdue campus.

[anniemcu]

The old man who build my parent's home was a bachelor, like myself. In his elder years, we would go over to his house and ask him if he needed any food or anything else. Out of all the things that he could ask for, I can still here him say, "Do you have any of those shelley beans?" The shelley beans that are sold in the supermarket contain both the green beans and the mature shelled beans that look like pinto beans.

Beans are a great food, high in fiber with lots of beneficial nutrients. I like to keep different dry foods in glass jars around my kitchen, mainly because I enjoy looking at how beautiful they are. Lately, I have been buying red lentils at the ethnic section of my supermarket. They look like little jewels. Because they are so small they cook quickly for beans. I can cook a cup of red lentils in the microwave in about 10 minutes. This is a staple in India, and it is called dahl, I believe. I always get it when I go to the Indian buffets near the Purdue campus.

mmmmmmmmmmmm.... red beans and rice... many ethnicicities employ that combo... mmmmm yum

[Jack]

Oh my heavens. I just clicked it again and looked. I am so retarded. Yes, yes, I pick pinto beans from strawberry plants. I have no idea how I didn't notice that. LMAO.

This one is from the same site : http://users.tcworks.net/~dandacrum/gar ... 0beans.jpg

So I guess that proves I haven't completely lost my mind yet, but I should pay closer attention to what I'm doing/saying.

But I do think it's funny that I claimed to get pinto beans from a strawberry plant!

[anniemcu]

So I guess that proves I haven't completely lost my mind yet, but I should pay closer attention to what I'm doing/saying.

But I do think it's funny that I claimed to get pinto beans from a strawberry plant!

Well Cran... you are someting special! LOL! ... but I don't think you could duplicate the results with any documentable accuracy. LOL!

[Wombat]

So I guess that proves I haven't completely lost my mind yet, but I should pay closer attention to what I'm doing/saying.

But I do think it's funny that I claimed to get pinto beans from a strawberry plant!

Google does that a lot with images. I tried to post a photo of babaganouge but what google produced was photos of tabouli and homous. Sometimes the source page had a genuine photo of babaganouge but more often it just mentioned it.

[Flyingcursor]

Just an off the wall comment but wouldn't adding salt to soaking water slow the rate of absorbtion thus defeating the purpose?

That's probably why Cowtime said you don't salt them when soaking but do salt them when cooking.

Cowtime, I have used fatback before but one time I used too large a piece and the beans were inedible. I've been hesitant since.

[SteveShaw]

I grow three kinds of beans. Runner beans, grown up poles, to be picked as pods before they go tough and sliced and boiled, unsalted. Some modern varieties such as Polestar don't have strings. Dwarf French beans with plump little pods, picked before they go all pithy and steamed for a few minutes. They make your teeth squeak most agreeably when you eat them. And, easiest to grow and best of all, broad beans, shelled and boiled before they go "black in th' eye." Eat a buttered pile of them with some bacon and you'll live forever. Also, they are the only bean that freezes satisfactorily. Your mileage may vary!

Steve