Pot o' Beans: Aquascalientes, Cicero

Pot o' Beans: Aquascalientes, Cicero

When Calvin Trillin goes to a city and isn't sure where to eat, he finds someone who looks like he does and follows him to lunch. That sort of on-the-spot self-defined demographic analysis works for Trillin, I guess, but my approach is diametrically opposed.

Lately, when I've tried to figure out how to cook new stuff, I find that I should look for people who look the least like me lately, that's been elderly women of African-American or Hispanic descent.

I learned how to make greens by chatting up AA grandmas. In Aquascalientes the other day, I was selecting some canned refried beans, which is typically the way The Wife and I buy them. As I stood gazing at the impersonal cans of Progresso, Goya, etc., an elderly Hispanic woman walked right by me, hunched over, Guatemalan I'm guessing (though short of stature, she had the almost threatening imperiousness of forehead and nose you see on stele at Tikal). She shunned the canned versions of refried beans and went right to the whole black bean. And it occurred to me, “Why in name of all that is holy am I buying canned refried beans? I should make my own.”

So I did, and the difference was remarkable. I simply did some garlic to gold (thanks Antonius), onions, and bay leaf, added some cooked whole beans and a splash of hot sauce, and simmered for a few hours (wish I had some epazote). After some slow cooking, I smashed the beans up a little.

The character of this supremely simple frijoles refritos preparation so far outstripped the canned variety (which I am now embarrassed to say I ever ate), that I doubt I will ever eat anything but homemade refried beans again. Instead of the homogenized regularity, there were bumps and nubs of bean skin, adding texture and flavor and character. Instead of dumbed-down flavors, there were powerful accents gurgling up through the bean paste. Instead of feeling like a suburbanite whitebread dimwit, I started feeling Mayan.

Aquascalientes
5901 Roosevelt Road
Cicero, IL
708-656-6503

Frijoles, Fagioli, Fasuli

David:

A couple of days ago you wrote of greens and now of beans, two of my favourite food categories. These have been and in some places still are the quintessential staples of the poor, be they proletarians or peasants, and as families and ethnic groups move up the social ladder and food chain, they tend to be left behind in preference for steaks and oysters. But for me, if I could have all the best cuts of meat and highest quality fish at bargain prices, I would still want to eat beans and greens two to five times a week. I inherited, along with the green-gene, the bean-gene from my grandfather who, into his 100th year (he lived to 101 & 1/2) still prepared his own dishes of these humble foods.

David Hammond wrote:As I stood gazing at the impersonal cans of Progresso, Goya, etc.

I often cook dried beans from scratch but, loving them as much as I do, I also always have a range of different kinds of canned beans in the pantry for a quick fix. Canned beans are in a general sense not as good as ones that one cooks up oneself from the dry state, but that statement needs heavy qualification. Some brands of canned beans are generally not so good and others consistently quite good, and some bean varieties are to my mind -- taking all factors into consideration -- better cooked from scratch and others taken from the can.

First, with regard to brands, I find good old Progresso, the one time friend of the Italian immigrant community, not the best for beans these days; rather, I find what was originally their Puerto Rican analogue, Goya, far better than Progresso both with regard to quality of product and varieity of offerings. I also find Goya superior to other Hispanic brands (e.g. La Preferida, which is, however, pretty good). The main qualitative difference lies in the degree of cookedness: Progresso products are overcooked and thus too soft; if you need or want to cook them for any length of time, you necessarily end up with mushy or pureed beans. Goya's beans are consistently more 'al dente' out of the can, allowing the cook more control over the character of the beans in the finished dish.

A couple of kinds of beans that I often use the canned version of are: 1) favas (cooking dried favas can take a long time); 2) chick peas (I also cook these up from the dry state but for these the quality of the dry chick pea ia also an issue; sometimes they're old and take a long time to cook and the skins never soften, giving a grainy texture); 3) gandules or 'pigeon peas' (a Puerto Rican favourite, great with rice; buy Goya brand).

Some of the advantages of cooking up beans from the dry state are: 1) control over texture; 2) control over the degree of saltiness of the final product; 3) the quantity of tasty, in some cases wildly coloured cooking liquid, which can be put to good use to colour rice, build up a soup, adjust the consistency of a bean-sauce for pasta, or revive paximadia and freselle and slices of stale bread.

And it occurred to me, "Why in name of all that is holy am I buying canned refried beans? I should make my own." So I did, and the difference was remarkable. I simply did some garlic to gold (thanks Antonius), onions, and bay leaf, added some cooked whole beans and a splash of hot sauce, and simmered for a few hours (wish I had some epazote). After some slow cooking, I smashed the beans up a little.

The 'refried' bean is a great vehicle for different flavour combinations. Traditional Mexican versions are extremely simple, but as you did, I sometimes add various things: onion, garlic, ground cumin, cilantro, ground chile, hot sauce (with its vinegar edge), Mexican oregano. Epazote is great, especially in its traditional pairing with black beans; since, when we get it in Pilsen, we have to buy it in a very large quantity, we have found that it can be successfully dried and stored. Fresh epazote is better but it's nice to have some dried in the pantry, especially since the nearby Gringo groceries never have it.

Last night we had pasta 'e fasuli using some mayo coba beans (one of my absolute favourites) that I had cooked up in large quantity a few days ago... just garlic (to gold ) and celery, a tiny amount of tomato, parsley at the end, and lots of beans and their cooking liquid, cooked down until many of the beans had partially dissolved and thickened the sauce... I think my grandfather would have liked it.

A

Hey Antonius,

Goya does seem to be a worthwhile brand name -- I used some Goya Mojo Criollo as a mariande for chicken last night, and it came out exceptionally well.

Interesting that you mention mayo coba beans -- I just bought some of them the other day (I was attracted to the name; Coba is one of my favorite -- and somewhat recently discovered -- Mayan archeological zones). Never had these beans before -- actually, I'm not sure I ever heard of them before -- but I'm glad to hear you like them.

Somewhat coincidentally, I did open a can of Progresso Fava beans just last week -- had them right out of the can with olive oil, salt and pepper (like Grandma used to make).

Happy Fourth,

David

David Hammond wrote:Goya does seem to be a worthwhile brand name -- I used some Goya Mojo Criollo as a mariande for chicken last night, and it came out exceptionally well.

Goya, oh Boya!... Their hot sauce is good and absurdly cheap too... Something like $0.69 vs. ca. $2.50 for Tabasco...

What's in the Mojo Criollo?... and along those lines, I tried for the first time Sazon earlier this year... with Achiote... For one of those times when you don't want to cook but have to, it's good to have on hand to jazz a dish up...

Interesting that you mention mayo coba beans -- ... I'm not sure I ever heard of them before -- but I'm glad to hear you like them.

I hadn't heard of them either and some time back, looking through the dried bean section of a grocery in Pilsen, saw a big bag for next to nothing and, like you, I was drawn to the name (as well as the price). Excellent texture, great flavour, nice (tan/yellow/gold) colour. It seems these beans are especially common in northwestern Mexico and also are called piruano (this information comes from a short discussion in one of Bayless' books-- grazie a mia moglie chi l'ha trovata). According to RST, the folks at Amanecer Tapatio in Joliet make their lardy refried beans with this sort, which sets them apart from most restaurants in these here parts.

Somewhat coincidentally, I did open a can of Progresso Fava beans just last week -- had them right out of the can with olive oil, salt and pepper (like Grandma used to make).

Yup... They're pretty darn tasty... That sounds like a good idea for lunch... Or is that insufficiently patriotic?... Some ful mudames would be nice too...

Happy Fourth... We should all read the Constitution today...
A

Antonius wrote:What's in the Mojo Criollo

Antonius,

The main ingredients in Goya Mojo Criollo, available at most Hispanic groceries, are bitter orange, lemon, garlic and onion. It's about $2.50 for a 12 oz bottle. Here's a link with a pic:

http://store.cubanfoodguy.com/product_i ... cts_id=133

David

I happen to have a couple bottles of Mojo Criollo on the counter that I picked up yesterday at Tony's Finer Foods on sale for $1.69 for 24 oz.

The package emphasizes bitter orange, lemon, garlic, and onion. The ingredient list reads:

Water, salt, orange juice concentrate, lemon juice concentrate, garlic, onion, spices, sugar, 0.1% sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.

Or, for you Antonius :

Agua, sal, concentrado de jugo de naranja, concentrado de jugo de limon, ajo, cebolla, especias, azocar, 0.1% benzoato de sodio y potassium sorbate.

Aaron Deacon wrote:I happen to have a couple bottles of Mojo Criollo on the counter that I picked up yesterday at Tony's Finer Foods on sale for $1.69 for 24 oz.

Wow, I got to start shopping at Tony's!

David

Aaron Deacon wrote:Or, for you Antonius :

Agua, sal, concentrado de jugo de naranja...

Muchas gracias!

A

A few thoughts come to mind in reading all this.

I also love beans, and particularly bean soups. Strangely, I have not been that happy with my refried beans made from scratch, but I am working this out. Sounds like the versions you all make are not fried at all, which may be where I go wrong (I have this foolish habit of making up recipes to reproduce dishes I am familiar with, without ever consulting cook books, particularly foolish in this case given that I have Diana Kennedy so close at hand).

I bought a large bag of Mayo Coba beans last winter at Michael's and then posted a query on CH asking for ideas on how to use them. No one replied, so after meditation and Internet searches, I treated them a lot like Pinto Beans.

Lastly, my family recently tried Mojo Criollo for the first time, and were not terribly pleased with the results. Seems like one would be better served with a mix of vinegar (white or cider, I think), and OJ. To that, add a little salt n' pepper, a little garlic, etc to taste. Somehow, the combination of the salt level and the preserved OJ in Mojo Criollo did not please our tastebuds.

In the grand scheme of things, I think prepaed marinades and sauces are much more of an offense to Bacchus than canned beans, though the Bride knows I glower at her whenever she dares to use them.

d,

dicksond wrote:my family recently tried Mojo Criollo for the first time, and were not terribly pleased with the results. Seems like one would be better served with a mix of vinegar (white or cider, I think), and OJ. To that, add a little salt n' pepper, a little garlic, etc to taste. Somehow, the combination of the salt level and the preserved OJ in Mojo Criollo did not please our tastebuds.

In the grand scheme of things, I think prepaed marinades and sauces are much more of an offense to Bacchus than canned beans, though the Bride knows I glower at her whenever she dares to use them.

Though I don't think Bacchus' ballywick encompasses non-fermented sauces, I tend to agree that marinades are usually best when made at home rather than bottled or canned (my use of Mojo Criollo was in deference to He Who Must Be Obeyed). I liked the Mojo Criollo, though; perhaps your family's tastebuds reacted to the bitter orange in it (I've heard other marinades made by companies other than Goya sometimes use MSG...but let's not get into that!).

Hammond

PS. I guess I don't "fry" the beans (let alone "re-fry" them); I just cook them in olive oil (which I believe is technically a type of frying).

dicksond wrote:I bought a large bag of Mayo Coba beans last winter at Michael's and then posted a query on CH asking for ideas on how to use them. No one replied, so after meditation and Internet searches, I treated them a lot like Pinto Beans.

dicksond:

I don't remember your call to mayo coba arms (senility? or maybe I didn't see it, in which case, blindness-- in any event, it can't have been my fault)...

Anyway, this is a (low-grade) tease... I've been mulling over a post that involves mayo coba beans and other things that might save humanity from its present crises... but ain't quite up to it yet... But now, between your post and David's posts about beans, I'm almost there...

But in the meanwhile, treating them like pintos seems to me is an emminently reasonable thing to do; I think I like them a little more (though I love pintos).

A

Remembering this thread, I picked up a bottle of mojo criollo at Supermercado Morelia on Clark st. today and marinated some chicken quarters in it. I loved it! It is not an overpowering flavour but goes well with the bird.

THe reason I went there is their skirt steak. At $2.69/LB it is a good deal but I especially love how they trim it, slice it into long thin strips and then run it through their tenderizer. I rub on some Spice House Pilsn Latino seasoning and olive oil, let it sit a minute then toss it on a HOT grill. It cooks in no time and today I took it and lay long pieces on a split 8" French roll that I slathered a bit of mayo, guacamole, and cilantro on. Oh dear was it good. The kids loved it, the gf loved it, everyone in the courtyard was commenting on how good it smelled:)

Re: Kids and eating; unlike Vital Informations' lovely and gregarious Chowhounditas, my kids are pretty picky. I blame my ex and her habit of giving them McD and Dengeos Ribs. I am working to expand their culinary horizons, Mexican has been the latest success for me, they both love Dona Lolis.




P.S. I find that bolding members names in a post to be a great help in reading. It's one of the many things at the Straight Dope message boards that I lie