The Bean Book
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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
Our new cookbook with Ten Speed Press highlights our favorite heirloom bean varieties and offers plenty of recipes—for vegans and vegetarians as well as pescatarians and omnivores: We are all Bean People.
"Steve Sando has spent two decades helping us all eat better beans and understand what makes them great. It's a noble mission and one which he continues in The Bean Book—an absolute must-have for anyone who believes that beans can be every bit as magical as a spoonful of caviar."
—Chef José Andrés
From the founder of the acclaimed Rancho Gordo bean company, an authoritative guide to 50 bean varieties and how to cook with them, featuring 100 classic and modern recipes.
"If you think beans are boring, just look at the recipes The Bean Book. Never had I really tasted difference that an heirloom variety makes until I tasted Rancho Gordo beans." —Tanya Holland, chef and author of Tanya Holland's California Soul.
Founder and owner Steve Sando, with twenty-five years experience in growing, sourcing, and cooking with beans, is the perfect home cook to present classic recipes and new combinations for all kinds of eaters. There are vegan and vegetarian dishes like Fennel, Potato, and White Bean Soup with Saffron and Pizza Beans, as well as full-on meat-lovers meals like Napa Valley Cassoulet, Southwestern Chile con Carne, and Clay-Baked Pacific Cod Gratin with Onions and White Beans.
"The fervid bean advocacy of Steve Sando and Rancho Gordo has made the beans in our pots more varied and flavorful. If only all advocacy were this delicious. The only downside to The Bean Book is that I see procuring even more varieties than I have space for in my already bean-gorged pantry" —Evan Kleiman, chef, author, and host of KCRW's Good Food
The Bean Book includes instructions for cooking beans using multiple methods and transforming them into satisfying dips, soups, salads, mains, sides, and desserts. Nobody better than the man behind Rancho Gordo to share recipes, tips, and historical background in a beautifully photographed, comprehensive collection that is sure to be a classic.
"The Bean Book is the magnum opus from the KING of heirloom beans! The gorgeous photography of these brilliantly colorful legumes would be reason enough to want this book, but the real story is this humble food's diversity in flavor, texture, and culinary possibilities. Wait until you try the recipes!" —Ted Allen, host of Food Network's Chopped
Of the 100 recipes, 86 are vegetarian, and 57 are vegan. Most can be easily adapted to your preferences.
Hardcover, 278 pages
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The Rancho Gordo Story
You Can Blame it All on the Dutch
I was shopping one August for tomatoes and, despite Napa being one of the world's most magnificent agricultural regions, all the tomatoes were from a hothouse in Holland! Worse, they were hard and pale pink instead of the ripe tomatoes I was craving. I started to grow my own tomatoes and this eventually led to beans.
My first harvested heirloom bean was Rio Zape. They were pretty and easy to grow but I had no idea what to expect when I cooked them. They were similar to the pintos I liked but there was so much more going on. Hints of chocolate and coffee mixed with an earthy texture made my head spin. I was blown away by Rio Zape and the other heirloom beans I was growing, but also really confused why they were such a big secret. I took the beans to the farmers market, organizing things on my kitchen table. Soon there was a warehouse, followed by more markets and mail order. It seems we had struck a nerve. People agreed that heirloom beans were worth saving, growing and cooking. Currently our warehouse, a retail shop, and offices are in Napa, California, and a stop here is part of many tours of the wine country.
All of my agricultural pursuits have been based on being someone who likes to cook but gets frustrated by the lack of ingredients, especially those that are native to the Americas. One of the things that originally drew me to beans was the fact that they are indigenous to the Americas. It seems to me these indigenous ingredients should be familiar, if not common. American cuisine is re-inventing itself and I'd love to include ingredients, traditions and recipes from north and south of the border as part of the equation. I love the concept of The Americas. I feel as if it's just as important as the European heritage many of us share.
You can read more about the Rancho Gordo story here.