Michoacan

Oh, Michoacan. How we love thee.

We spent two weeks in Michoacan in 2010 and loved it. An easy drive from a major airport (Guadelajara), the landscape is made up of rolling hills and forests surrounding a shimmering lake. The food was perfect for us - affordable street food that was delicious and vegetarian! What is pocket change in America bought more food than we could eat.

In Patzcuaro, we rented a car and a lovely home - our first experience of really living in Mexico, shopping at the market, paying the water man, struggling to dry our clothes. June is the rainy season, and it was often chilly and damp. K was completely won over - all the wonder of Mexico without the fear of sunburn and heatstroke, sign her up! Actually, the area is very reminiscent of Northern California.

The second week, we stayed in a furnished apartment in Morelia - a beautiful city, colonial with many modern amenities, similar to Puebla. We learned how to buy bread and how scary/wonderful a Mexican zoo can be. The animals are RIGHT THERE!

Michoacan was the first place in Mexico that D said, "I would buy a house here." The real estate is so affordable (under $150,000 for a furnished, two-bedroom home), and Patzcuaro is a lovely size - a town but big enough for amenities. There is a WHOLE TOWN dedicated to growing avocados!

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to return - the violence has just gotten too scary. At first, we said we couldn't live there but maybe a vacation would be a possibility. Now even a vacation seems too risky.

So we pine...

For uchepos under a tarp as the skies open...

For corundas as big as a softball slathered in salsa verde and crema...

For atole in the misty morning market in front of the Basilica...

and, most of all, for enchiladas placeros.

Oh, enormous plate of sauced and fried tortillas, smothered in potatoes and carrots, I wish you were in my mouth right now!

Bayo Chocolate

We've recently been enjoying pinto beans a lot, so when we were choosing a bean to start with, I was drawn to the Bayo Chocolate. The warm brown color was appealing to my eye.

It turned out they were also the first bean described in the Rancho Gordo newsletter:

"Bayo beans are very popular in Michoacan. They are very mild and soak up any flavors you might want to add. These Bayo Chocolate are pretty rare. I've only seen them in a market in Puebla. I know you want advice but all I can tell you is that they are mild and creamy. In Michoacan, you can make a Sopa Tarasca which is one third each pureed beans, pureed tomatoes and chicken stock. Fried tortilla strips on the top would add some nice crunch and a few cubes of queso fresco or fresh farmers cheese would be welcome as well."

The Long Soak

In August, we shifted our diet to more whole grains, and that involved more beans. At first, it was lots of garbanzos, which were turned into hummus, but as the season turned cold, I branched out to other beans.

I was tipped off by a friend to the long soak. He says that the phytates in beans are unhealthy and, if you're going to eat them, you should soak them for several days then cook them in a pressure cooker. I don't have a pressure cooker, but I'm really good at starting something and forgetting about it for a few days.

So that's what I do with my beans - into a bowl they go covered with water (a few inches extra), then I set them on the counter, or out on our enclosed patio where it's more like refrigerator temperature this winter. I leave it there for two to three days, until it starts to make little bubbles.

I pour out the water, and refill the bowl (again with a few inches extra water). I know some people cook with the soaking water, but it has the phytates in it, so I want to get rid of it. Also I've never noticed it made a big difference to flavor one way or the other.

Then I pull out my trusty cast iron pot, saute some onions and garlic, and pour in the beans and water. I bring it to a boil, let it boil for five minutes, then turn it down to a low simmer. That was the advice we got when we first ordered Rancho Gordo beans a few years ago, and it has worked well for us.

The huge benefit of the soaking comes into play at this point. Because the beans are already totally hydrated, cooking time is much decreased. (You can also do this with pasta!) Beans cook in two hours and are very soft.

It used to be that it would take four, five, even six hours to cook, and even then they still wouldn't be fork tender. It would require adding new, cold water every hour or so, which seemed to me that it would disturb the cooking process. Me being me, I would forget to add more water, and more often than not, the beans would burn. Not so effective really.

This benefit alone convinced me of the superiority of The Long Soak. The fact that there might be health benefits is an added bonus.

Nowadays, at the advice of the internet, I've taken to adding a few teaspoons of an acid (usually apple cider vinegar). Then it bubbles much more quickly - like overnight - and I rinse it out and add more water daily. I've notice no other difference in cooking or eating.

Before Rancho Gordo

One of the things that inspired us to join Rancho Gordo's bean club was that we have been enjoying experimenting with dried beans from other sources. Here is a bowl of black beans grown by our favorite local farmer, Elaine Lemmon of Everblossom Farm, and cooked by K for a taco night.

Grand opening

When D and E got home, we opened the package and were pleasantly surprised!

In addition to the beans, we received an awesome Rancho Gordo apron.

Plus a lovely little newsletter describing the beans, where they come from, and how to cook and serve them.

Here's the loot - six bags of beans, a bag of artisanal piloncillo, and a cool poster from Rancho Gordo too! I'll detail each kind of bean as we cook and eat it.

Since packages will arrive from Rancho Gordo quarterly, that gives us 12 weeks to enjoy this, so I anticipate we'll be posting every two weeks.

They're here!