The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen

Sando, the founder of the highly regarded heirloom bean company Rancho Gordo, offers a guide to cooking with beans. The collection, written with Julia Newberry, general manager of Rancho Gordo and coauthor of The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen, begins with a lengthy introduction that includes a history of beans in the Americas, Sando’s bean cooking method (plus how to do it in a pressure cooker, slow cooker, or clay pot), and pantry suggestions for those focused on the culinary possibilities of beans. Then there’s a highlight chapter: almost 20 pages devoted to 50 heirloom varieties of beans, each with a photo, tasting notes, and a recipe index. Then come the recipes, divided into dips and appetizers, salads, soups, stovetop dishes such as braises, beans and grains, baked beans, patties, and a roundup of sweets, stocks, and salsas. Choices range from Greek slow-baked garbanzos with tomatoes and peppers to moros y cristianos to pizza beans to baked beans. Many of the recipes are either vegetarian or can be adapted to be so. Striking photos round out the work.