Jackson Jambalaya

Collection of ZeroBear PolyBear's recipes.

Does anyone know if there is a National Dried Beans Day?

Dried beans are a wonderful fruit....

When they decide to cook beans, some folks go straight to red beans and rice. I have done that, too. Some make navy beans, and I have participated in their quest. Up north, they make Boston Baked Beans, and one day I will post my version of that dish. Black beans are a nice treat. I have a black bean dish that is nice.  No cattle drive would be the same without Pinto Beans, simmered to fart inducing perfection by Cookie in cast iron over a campfire. Mom says dried green Lima beans reminds her of dinner on the farm outside of Isola back in the 1930s. For New Year's dinner you need to eat dried Black-Eyed peas with pork chops and cabbage slaw to assure the coming year will be prosperous. Cannellini beans are favorites for many folks. Note: Dried Cannellini beans will serve as acceptable Bingo markers if you get into a bind. I understand the British National Museum in London has a large Egyptian Oblisk they smuggled out of Egypt in a huge container of dried Lentil beans.

When Dad was still with us, he said they would grow black eyed peas all summer long and allow them to dry on the vine. Once picked, they shelled and stored them in flour sacks, hanging from the roof rafters until needed for dinner. They lived in a tin roofed sharecroppers shotgun house, west of Hollandale, MS about a half mile from the Sunflower River. There was no ceiling in their house, so the space between the roof and head height was as good a place as any for hanging cloth bags of dried beans away from hungry rats, until needed to feed the family. 

Of course, some like to eat their beans from a can, cold or heated, hobo style but, other than BBQ'ed beans, made from a Campbell's Pork and Bean and Ranch Bean mixture, with diced onions, diced bell pepper, brown sugar, garlic, fried bacon bits, bacon fat, with a touch of Worcestershire sauce, some mustard, and BBQ sauce, I like my beans cooked from dried in one or more of several ways. William Faulkner fans may recognize that as a Faulkner length sentence.

At our house, Great Northern beans and ham with cornbread are my favorite. 

I cook them this way:

Great Northern Beans and Ham, with Cornbread

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (1/2 of a 1 pound bag) of Camellia Great Northern Beans
1/2 pound of cubed ham
1 teaspoon Salt (to taste)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon Ham Better Than Bouillon paste

Cornbread:

1 cup Marta White (white) corn meal
1/2 cup Martha White Self Rising flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 – 3/4 cup Buttermilk

Directions:

There are two of us, so I used about half of a one pound bag of Camellia Great Northern Beans. For me, there is only one acceptable brand for dried beans, and that brand is Camellia. My personal opinion is they simply cook and taste better. Store brands may be cheaper but none are very expensive.

It is best to inspect the beans and rinse them to remove any dust. Occasionally you will find a bad bean, and I have found small pebbles once or twice in the past. Rinsing away any dirt is smart, and no one wants to bite down on a rock.

There may be a disagreement on whether dried beans need to be pre-soaked before cooking. If I remember, I put my dried beans in a pan, cover then with water, bring then to a boil, then turn off the heat, cover and let them sit overnight – at least a few hours. When I am ready to cook them, I drain away the water, rinse and then cover the partially hydrated beans about two inches over the top of the beans with water to cook them. If I do not know I am cooking them beforehand, I just bring to a boil, drain, rinse and cook, skipping the several hour pre-soak. The quicker method works fine, but it is not the way Mom did them.

When the beans have come to a boil, season with salt, sugar, add oil, ham, and Better Than Bouillon Ham Paste.

The beans need to cooked at a low boil for maybe two hours, until they are tender. I use more water than most because we like broth with our beans because I like to crumble cornbread into the bowl with my beans.

Making the cornbread - you've seen this before,

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees f. As the oven is approaching 400 degrees, add some vegetable oil to the skillet (2 Tablespoons) and preheat it to “sizzling hot” on the oven.

For an 8 inch skillet (4 or 5 nice wedges) I use a cup of cornmeal, about 3/4 cup of self rising flour, 1 teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, stir together and add buttermilk to make a slightly thick batter.

Add to skillet, which needs to be hot enough that the batter sizzles in the oil. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes. When the top browns, the cornbread is ready. If the skillet is properly seasoned and the batter sizzles when added, the cooked pone should fall right out.

I like to turn my pone out onto a table knife to allow the heat/steam to dissipate and not make the side touching the plate wet.

Butter on the bread is nice. Before crumbling the cornbread into my bean bowl, I usually eat a buttered wedge to make sure it has not been poisoned. One can never be too careful.

Serve and enjoy.

Thanks for looking at my post.
God Bless you.