It’s been some years now that I’d been reading about Rancho Gordo beans. About how they’re just the best out there. Fresh dried. Premium beans. Heirloom beans and worth the price to mail order them. I had to find out, and this is the first soup I’ve made from them.
You’ve probably read about them just as I have. Rancho Gordo. A company out of Napa, California. They are a small company with a mission – from their website they explain . . .
Heirloom beans are the foundation of Rancho Gordo. I remember the first time I ate a Rio Zape and was shocked at how much better it was than the average pinto bean. I did a little more research and soon realized that I hadn’t even scratched the surface. There are hundreds of heirloom beans waiting to be discovered. My thinking is the best way to save these beans is by eating them and letting people see that even though the yields are lower and they aren’t as uniform as industrial red kidneys, they are more than worth the bother. [. . . from Steve Sando, founder of Rancho Gordo]
My friend Cherrie agreed to share the order with me – I think I bought 4 varieties of their heirloom beans. I read about all of them and decided to try a few first before I placed another order. They produce lots of different types, and when they run out; well, they’re gone until next season. As I make anything with the other varieties I ordered, I’ll tell you about it. As of this writing, the beans are $5.95 a pound, and they charge a flat fee of $10-12 to ship, so it’s best to buy several and make that shipping fee count.
Each package weighed a pound. So with sharing, I ended up with 1/2 pound, which was just fine for my first heirloom bean soup.
I wrote a note on the baggie about the tepary bean – on the shipping packet it said they were a meaty bean, great in salads, to look for debris and to use a simple preparation. Also it said they’d keep until 2015.
On their website it says this about the tepary bean:
Teparies are indigenous to North America and were developed by Native Americans to be drought-tolerant. Higher in protein and fiber than other beans (which are already super foods), what more can you ask for in food? Flavor and texture? You got it! The small beans plump up a bit but keep a meaty, dense texture. Can you tell we’re smitten? The beans are savory but the white version tends to be slightly sweet. Tepary beans look like lentils but they have nothing in common with lentils other than their small, compact size. In fact, they take as long to cook as an average-sized bean.
So, I made soup. I allowed the beans to soak in cold water overnight. I drained the water off and added them to the soup I started. I made the soup in my new Breville Risotto Cooker, on the slow cooker/low setting – this after I’d sautéed some onion, added garlic for just a minute, then added a bunch of stock. Now, I happened to use Penzey’s soup base because I always have it on hand. I used pork, but chicken is probably more common. I had a ham hock from our Berkshire pig that had almost NO meat on it, but it provided ample flavor, which was a good thing. I added dried thyme and dried oregano too, plus a big can of tomatoes and let that sit in the slow cooker for a few hours. I kept testing the beans because no way was I going to let them over cook and get mushy! I wanted texture, and that’s exactly what I got.
What’s GOOD: love the chewy texture of the bean. If you overwhelm it with spices or seasonings, you’re not going to taste the bean at all, in which case you might as well use a grocery-store red bean. These are slightly smaller, kind of flat-ish, which is why they describe them as lentil-like, but only in appearance, not in taste or cooking. I liked these beans a lot and I’d order them again when/if I do place another order. The soup was delish – good for a cold winter’s day. Nothing exceptional; just good, old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs simple soup.
What’s NOT: for some, buying mail order dried beans may sound ridiculous (and expensive). But I’m always interested in buying things that are DIFFERENT, and these surely fit that description.
printer-friendly CutePDF
Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC)
* Exported from MasterCook *
Rancho Gordo Tepary Bean, Ham and Tomato Soup
Recipe By: My own concoction
Serving Size: 6
8 ounces dried beans — Rancho Gordo Brown Tepary type (or see note below)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 large onion — peeled, chopped
2 cloves garlic — chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme — crushed between your palms
2 teaspoons dried oregano — crushed between your palms
4 cups chicken stock — or pork stock, approximate (I use Penzey’s soup base)
1 pound ham hock
56 ounces canned diced tomatoes — with juices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
NOTES: I used Rancho Gordo brand beans because I had them on hand – they’re an heirloom, premium dried bean. You can use any kind of dried red bean or white, but not lentils or split peas. This is a fairly brothy kind of soup. If you like, you may add more beans from the get-go. If you want to, remove some at the end and mash or use an immersion blender just a little bit to give the soup some thicker texture. You may also add a variety of other vegetables like zucchini, green beans. You could also add about 1/2 cup dried pasta 10-15 minutes before serving.
1. Wash and rinse the beans under running water to find and discard any debris. If time permits, soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain the beans before adding to the soup mixture. Otherwise, soak the beans for an hour in cold water and discard the water.
2. In a large pot warm the oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for about 8-10 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and continue cooking another minute. Add the thyme and oregano and stir in. Add the beans, stock, canned tomatoes and ham hock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 45-55 minutes, or until the beans are just barely cooked through. Do not over cook them – you want them to have texture.
3. Remove the ham hock and allow to cool on a plate. Pick over the hock and remove any ham meat and chop into small pieces or shreds and add back into the soup. Discard the bone and fat from the hock.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, or cool and allow to refrigerate overnight (soup is always better the next day). Reheat to serve. SLOW COOKER: This can be made in a slow cooker, if preferred. Use a low setting if possible and cook for 4-5 hours. If using a high setting, it may take only an hour or two for the beans to cook through if you’ve soaked them first.
Per Serving: 459 Calories; 20g Fat (38.6% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 14g Dietary Fiber; 80mg Cholesterol; 2389mg Sodium.
Leave a Comment!