I ended each chapter with a few recipes plagiarised from various sources but modified in the light of what was then the orthodox nutritional theory. The emphasis was on low-fat, under the influence of the American physiologist / nutritionist Ancel Keys (1904-2004). Keys’s general idea – that we should follow a basically Mediterranean diet – still holds up well, but his more or less blanket condemnation of animal fat has been somewhat modified. That is, it now seems that whereas fat from animals raised on concentrates tends to be too saturated for comfort, the fat from pasture-fed livestock contains respectable quantities of beneficial polyunsaturates and is therefore OK. I would not presume to judge but now I am in my 80s I feel no great need to follow the rules and now agree with Ratty the water-vole out of Wind in the Willows that crumpets should be served with more butter (from pasture-fed cows) than they can contain, so they drip down your shirt-front. Time will tell.
In the 1980s too nutritionists emphasised the dangers of too much salt – so I tended to omit or greatly reduce the salt recommended in the original recipes.
Anyway, in the book I divided the recipes into themes. As follows:
Theme 1: Texture one way, flavour another
Pulses are mealy things, which usually have a skin; if you cook them just enough to make them tender without stirring them too much the seeds remain whole and discrete and provide a range of textures from the big mealy butter beans or more chewy broad beans down to the small, almost crunchy brown lentils.
But if you cook them a little more, or break them up with a spoon, you can produce an additional range of textures from the slightly disintegrating fagioli all’uccelletto of Italy, through dhals and hummus to purees and thick soups. And if you stick pulses together, with or without pounding them first, you can produce a range of cakes and fritters and puddings and falafels.
Because pulses are essentially bland, as well as mealy, they are ideal vehicles for spices, herbs and sauces, and because they grow worldwide in one form or another, they have been integrated into almost every great cuisine. Thus pulses provide the means by which to create idiom; with just small shifts of spicing the same dish of beans can be pushed into an Italian, Mexican, French, English or Indian mode. Pulses are to the cook what clay is to the sculptor. They are infinitely obliging; you can mould them as you will.
Beans need soaking before cooking. Soak them overnight in plenty of water and discard any that float. A quicker way is to bring the beans slowly to the boil in a large saucepan of water, then turn off the heat and let them swell in the hot water for an hour. Drain the beans, cover them with fresh water and simmer until tender. To test, remove a few beans and blow on them; if the skins burst they are done.
The following recipes are organised to move down through the range of textures, drifting into different idioms along the way.
SPICY BEANS
This is modified from a recipe for Mexican Beans. The simplified but effective spicing makes the dish presentable in a vast range of contexts; I have, for example, served it with well-cooked shoulder of lamb, pot roasts of beef and as part of a vegetarian meal. Note the use of flour, only as a thickener, but showing yet again the affinity of pulse and grain.
Serves 4
1lb (½kg) red kidney beans
1 large onion
4 fat garlic cloves
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon corn oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 drop Tabasco sauce
A pinch of salt
Soak and drain the beans. Cover them with fresh water and simmer with the finely chopped onion and garlic until the beans are tender but still intact, which takes about 1 hour. Then drain again.
Mix the flour, cumin, chilli powder, oil and Tabasco to a smooth paste and stir into the beans. Cover with water, add the salt, sprinkle generously with black pepper and cook, covered, for a further 45 minutes until the sauce is thick.
FAGIOLIALL’UCCELLETTO
Similar in conception to the recipe for Spicy Beans but in a quite different idiom.
Serves 4
1lb (½kg) haricot beans, soaked
½ lb (240 g) Mediterranean (Moroccan/ Italian)fresh or canned tomatoes
6floz (1.8di) olive oil
3 to 4 bay leaves
Generous sprigs fresh rosemary and sage
A pinch of salt
Drain the beans and simmer in fresh water until tender but not mushy – 40 minutes should be long enough. Drain again and add the tomatoes (chopped if fresh), olive oil, bay leaves, other herbs and salt. Simmer, covered, very slowly for about I hour until the sauce is very thick and the beans are on the point of disintegration. Remove the bay leaves and the herb stalks and serve.
DHAL
In India the pulse porridges known as dhal are a ubiquitous accompaniment of rice dishes and breads. Scooped up in a chapati, they provide an outstanding example of the nutritionally unimpeachable grain plus pulse theme. Dhals are made from grams, lentils or chick-peas and can be spiced at will.
Here is a straightforward version intended for mung beans, although other grams or lentils will serve as well.
Serves 4
1lb (½kg) mung beans
2 onions
2 fat garlic cloves
1-inch (2.5cm) piece root ginger
4 tablespoons corn oil
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground·coriander
A pinch of salt
A handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Soak the mung beans for at least I hour. Drain, cover with fresh water, add the salt and simmer for about 45 minutes. While the mung are cooking chop the onions, garlic and ginger and fry in the oil. Add the turmeric when the onion is well softened, and the more delicate ground cumin and coriander when the onion is almost melted. Cook for a further 3 minutes, stirring all the while. Turn the oniony-spicy mixture into the dhal, just as the mung beans are approaching tenderness. Serve garnished with the chopped coriander leaves.
SAG DHAL
By way of diversion on this journey from the whole bean to the puree I must mention sag dhal,the magical combination of pulse and spinach. In fact a separate recipe is unnecessary, although a touch of fenugreek sweated alongside the turmeric and onion is a pleasant addition when spinach is cooked.
After you have added the final spices in the recipe for dhal, simply stuff the saucepan with finely chopped spinach – I pound(½ kg) goes a long way. This will sweat down in the heat and after a few minutes can be stirred into the dhal.
You could, if you like, at this point stir in a small – ¼-pint (1.5 dl) – pot of yogurt. The dish is now worthy of any guest; it is low in fat, has adequate protein, high fibre and a sharp, coherent flavour.
At the very simplest, the mealier pulses (yellow or red lentils, white or green peas or broad beans) may simply be boiled to the point of mushiness, then drained and peppered and pounded or sieved; and the resulting puree is an admirable foil for sausages or pork: contrasting in texture, taking up fat, and offering no competition in flavour.
In England, traditionally, old broad beans were boiled, pushed through a sieve and served on toast, on which, in this context, it is even reasonable to risk a little butter; and scrambled egg is another recognised accompaniment. Broad beans were also boiled in mutton broth and then pounded to a puree and served on coarse oatcakes; a robust and nourishing variation of the grain-pulse theme, exactly comparable to dhal with chapati.
HUMMUS WITH TAHINA
Hummus is a Semitic invention, a puree of chick-peas often flavoured with the paste of sesame seeds known as tahina, which is available from most delicatessens. Hummus is traditionally served with pitta, but it can be accompanied by almost any unleavened bread. It is often used as a first course and the quantities served are small.
Serves 4
¼ lb (120 g) chick-peas
Juice of 2 lemons
2 fat garlic cloves
A pinch of salt
2 to 3 tablespoons tahina
1 tablespoon olive oil
The Garnish
Green virgin olive oil
Cayenne pepper
Chopped parsley
Chickpeas can be tough; soaking overnight is not too long and simmering for 2 hours is minimal. Drain them when they are cooked, but save the liquor. Put 4 tablespoons of the liquor into a blender with the lemon juice, garlic and salt and, as the blades are whirling, alternately feed in the cooked chick-peas and the tahina through the hole in the lid. If it clogs, add more liquor and the olive oil. The result should be a smooth, creamy puree.
Serve the hummus in bowls with a whorl of green virgin olive oil, a dusting of cayenne and a sprinkling of parsley.
What excites me about hummus is not simply that it is a pleasant and easy starter but that it is a form of unlimited potential; a pulse porridge which is nourishing and flavoursome on its own account but can absorb almost any flavour (or additional nourishment) you care to impose on it. Oat porridge, as favoured by the Scots, was traditionally left to bubble all night; porridges of the tougher pulses could similarly be left, to be served for breakfast on toast or oatcakes. The Arabs seized on sesame paste because it was there; but the infinite range of misos are an obvious substitute; and any bean could theoretically stand in for chickpeas.
So we arrive at broad bean hummus flavoured with miso and served on oatcakes for breakfast; an Arab form using English and Japanese ingredients and served in the manner of Scotland; pulse, cereal and fungus combined. Outlandish but logical; and it works.
BLACK BEAN SOUP
From the southern States of America. You must start making the soup the day before you intend serving it.
Serves 6 to 8
1lb (½kg) black beans
1 ham bone or chicken carcass
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
1 celery stalk
1 leek
Salt Pepper
4 tablespoons dry sherry
1 hard-boiled egg, optional
1 lemon, optional
Soak the beans in cold water overnight. The next day drain the beans and put them into a large saucepan with 4 pints (2 litres) of water, the ham bone or chicken carcass, bay leaves, peppercorns, chopped onions, garlic, celery and leek. Bring to the boil, removing any scum as it rises. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 3 hours, skimming occasionally.
Remove the bone or carcass and the bay leaves. Blend or sieve the soup and leave to get quite cold in a bowl. When cold remove the grease from the top and return the soup to a clean pan. If the soup is too thick stir in a little more water. Add plenty of black pepper, and a little salt, if necessary (this depends on whether you have used a ham bone or chicken carcass for the stock).
Bring the soup to the boil. Pour the soup into bowls, add a tablespoon of sherry to each bowl and garnish with thin slices of hard-boiled egg and lemon, if you wish.
Theme II: The pulse cake
So much for pureeing; but once a pulse has been broken up it can be stuck together again to form a pudding or cake.
Such pulse cakes appear in virtually every great cuisine. They can be held together simply by the starch of their own mealiness, or sometimes by a dash of grain or besan (chick-pea) flour. Their texture can be varied from the porridgy to the crunchy, both by varying the kind of pulse used and by slight variations in the cooking. In pease pudding, for example, the pulse is boiled almost to the point of mushiness; but the beans used in falafels are not boiled at all-they are merely soaked to soften them, pounded to a paste, shaped into patties and then fried. They can be spiced or herbed in any way you please (or not at all) and thus can express any idiom, from English Peasant to Grand Indian.
Pulse cakes can be eaten with bread as a light lunch or with curries and vegetables for an Indian or Indonesian banquet. They can merely be boiled, or finished by dry-frying, shallow-frying, or deep-frying; and when they are fried they can be spiced again.
In short, the pulse pudding or cake is one of the great forms in cooking. Here are a few simple and classic examples to give a hint of the range. Once the principle is grasped, the recipes write themselves.
PEASE PUDDING
This dish is designed to accompany boiled meat; it is primitive and easy to make but fine cooking.
Serves 4
¾ lb (360 g) dried peas or fresh old mealy peas
A pinch of salt
A few sprigs mint or thyme
If the peas are dried they should be soaked for at least 3 hours or all day if that is more convenient.
Tie the soaked peas or fresh peas loosely in a pudding cloth together with the salt and herb sprigs (mint or thyme are not mandatory, but they go well with old peas). Put the peas in with the meat to boil alongside. At least 30 minutes’ simmering is desirable but timing hardly matters; this is a dish for the long, slow simmer. The peas swell (taking up the broth of the meat) until they are constrained and finally pressed together by the cloth. You finish up with a tight, round pudding that you untie and pull apart with forks.
RED LENTIL CAKES
Such cakes as these are unendingly versatile. I boiled up some lentils one Sunday afternoon and made some cakes to serve with Sunday dinner and we had the rest with jam for breakfast the following morning.
Lentil cakes can be laced with virtually any spice or herb or shreds of sweet root, or they can be left unflavoured and allowed simply to take up whatever sauce you care to bathe them in, from spiced yogurt to mutton broth. Or you can put some flavours into the cakes and others into the sauce and so strike a counterpoint between the two.
Serves 4
¾lb (360g) red lentils
A pinch of salt
Wash the lentils and put them in a saucepan with the salt and plenty of water and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the lentils are on the brink of mushiness but still al dente.
Drain the lentils in a sieve and leave to dry and cool a little. Take handfuls of the lentils and mould them into cakes about¾ inch (2 cm) thick. They are not strong but hold together well enough. Dry-fry the cakes in a non-stick pan.
LENTIL CAKES INDIAN STYLE
These cakes are a worthy accompaniment to any curry, or, served with chapatis, make a frugal but pleasant lunch.
Serves 4
¼lb (120g) urad lentils
½-inch (1cm) piece root ginger, sliced
1 garlic clove
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons chopped coriander leaves
Oil for deep-frying
The Yogurt Mixture
¾pint (4.5di) yogurt
A pinch of cayenne pepper
A pinch of salt
Wash the lentils thoroughly and soak them in cold water overnight. Drain the lentils and put them in a blender with the ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, ground coriander, salt and coriander leaves. Add water a little at a time and blend until the mixture is reduced to a smooth puree.
Heat the oil and drop in tablespoonfuls of the lentil puree. Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry the lentil cakes for 2 minutes. or until they are puffed up and golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
Whip the yogurt in a bowl. Mix in the cayenne pepper and salt. Put in the lentil cakes and turn them to mix well. Serve immediately.
FALAFEL
Falafel is traditionally served in envelopes of pitta with tahina (sesame seed paste) dip. Dried.broad beans of the kind used in the Middle East are available from Greek or Italian delicatessens.
Serves 4
½lb (240g) dried white broad beans
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
2oz (60g) fresh coriander leaves
1 scant teaspoon ground cumin
1 scant teaspoon ground coriander
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
A pinch of salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
Soak the beans in water overnight or for 3 hours in water in which they have been brought to the boil.
Slice the onion and garlic, chop the coriander leaves, and puree them together with the soaked beans in a blender. Add the spices, salt and baking powder as you go to ensure their even distribution.
Put the whole mixture aside for an hour in the refrigerator. Then form it into little cakes and either deep-fry them or shallow-fry them in oil until their outsides are puffed up and they become crisp and brown.
Theme Ill: Pulses as meat extenders
The food technologists invented the term “meat extenders” to describe textured vegetable protein, or TVP. Since the beginning of time cooks have been extending meat according to exactly the same principle and with far more pleasing results, using potatoes, bread, pulses and fungi.
Pulses are supreme meat extenders, with their al dente contrasting texture, their bland flavour and (soya and groundnuts aside) their fatless-ness; and of course whenever they appear on the same dish as meat, or even in the same meal (as hummus might precede a meat dish, or a sweet lentil cake might follow one) they are acting as meat extenders.
But there are a few classic dishes of great distinction in which the specific conception is to match meat and pulse. Note, incidentally, that meat is µsed far more sparingly in the classic dishes than in the modern TVP casserole. There is no need to disguise the pristine pulse; the meat is used merely as a garnish.
LENTILS WITH LIVER AND YOGURT
Here is an engaging invention from a friend of mine who likes lentils and has a feel for them.
Serves 2
1 onion
1 carrot
¼ lb (120g) red lentils
¼ lb (120g) brown rice
1 bayleaf
A pinch of salt
Black pepper
¼ lb (120g) liver
Oil
A pinch of dried mint
½ teaspoon ground mustard seed
2 tablespoons yogurt
Watercress sprigs
Slice the onion and carrot thinly and put them into a saucepan with the lentils, rice, bay leaf, the salt and a sprinkling of pepper. Pour in ¾ pint of water and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 45 minutes. Keep your eye on it and top up with more water if the mixture becomes too dry; there should be just a hint of moisture by the time the rice and lentils are tender without the need to drain.
Slice the liver thinly and sweat it in a frying-pan in a very little oil – the idea is to make it exude and then lightly cook in its own juices – together with the mint. Take the pan off the heat. Stir the mustard into the yogurt; then turn the mixture into the slightly cooled liver.
Make a nest of the lentils and rice and put the liver mixture in the middle.
Decorate with watercress and serve.
ROAST LAMB AND HARICOTS
The changing nature of pulses as the season progresses is part of their appeal; lamb is served with fresh green peas or beans in summer and perhaps as boiled mutton and pease pudding as the peas grow mealier and, in winter, on a bed of dried beans. Here is my version of a Provencal recipe which is not so much a dish as an ecosystem; easy, opulent, cheap and courtesy of the bean.
Serves 4 to 6
1 shoulder of lamb
2 teaspoons ground coriander
4 to 5 garlic cloves
6 medium onions
1 ½ lb (3/4 kg) potatoes
2 large carrots
1 parsnip
1 medium turnip
A pinch of salt
Black pepper
1 lb (1/2 kg) beans – big white haricots, broad beans or red kidney beans, soaked
Rub the coriander well into the skin of the lamb. Make little nicks in the surface and tuck in the garlic cloves.
Put the meat into a roasting tin and place in a 375°F (190°C, Gas Mark 5) oven. If the shoulder is a fair size – 3 pounds (1½ kg) plus – then 2 hours is not too long.
Baste the joint frequently in its own exuding juices. Put the whole peeled onions into the roasting tin about 30 minutes before the meat is ready. Baste the onions, too; they should be caramelised and soft but not mushy. Scrub the potatoes, carrots and parsnip and peel the turnip. Cut the vegetables into chunks and put them into a casserole with the salt and a good sprinkling of pepper and about ½ inch (1 cm) of water. Put the casserole in the oven underneath the meat for 1½ hours. Baste the vegetables in the pan juices now and again to avoid too much browning.
Drain the beans and boil them in plenty of water for about 40 minutes or until tender but al dente. Remove the pan from the heat and drain.
To serve, spread the beans in a thick layer on a large platter. Drain (reserve the liquid) and arrange the vegetable chunks on top. Slice the meat and arrange it and the onions on top of the vegetables.
Put the roasting tin on top of the stove, pour in the reserved liquid from the vegetables and bring to the simmer. Add the yogurt, if you are using it, and stir to form a rich, sharp gravy.
Pour over enough gravy to just moisten the dish and garnish with watercress or parsley.
Finally, the affinity of pulse with pig manifests itself in a hundred contexts: the flavour of pork and bacon, and the saltiness and fattiness, are admirably balanced by the pulse’s mealiness. Pease pudding, a traditional dish which was often boiled alongside a bacon hock, provides a fine example of the marriage. Here is another classic example, in quite a different vein, to make the point.
BAKED BEANS WITH APPLE
In this derivative of the famous Boston baked beans the ratio of protein to energy is near enough perfect (the sweet, calorific molasses and calorific crackling are balanced by the protein of the beans and pork; the beans and apple provide fibre) and the bitter-sweet combination of mustard, molasses and tomato is typically North American.
The inclusion of apple is something I tried one day partly because apples were to hand but also because apples go so well with pork; and it worked.
Traditionally, baked beans are cooked for up to nine hours but I find the shorter cooking time adequate.
Serves 6
1lb (½ kg) red kidney beans
1 apple (a Russet would be fine)
1 onion
3 fat garlic cloves
1 inch (2cm) piece ginger root
Oil
2 large Mediterranean tomatoes or ½ lb (240 g) canned tomatoes
¼ to ½lb (120 to 240g) pork belly, with crackling
1 tablespoon black treacle or molasses
2 teaspoons ground mustard seed (freshly ground, if possible)
A pinch of salt
Black pepper
Soak the beans for at least 3 hours. Drain and transfer to a deep casserole. Chop the apple (leave on the skin and pips) and gently sweat and fry it with the sliced onion, chopped garlic and ginger root in very little oil in a frying-pan until all is mushy. Then throw in the finely chopped tomatoes.
Cut the skin off the pork and put it on one side. Remove any bones and cut the flesh into small slivers about 1½ by½ inch (3.5 by I cm). Add these pork bits to the beans, then add the contents of the frying-pan plus the black treacle or molasses, mustard, salt and a good sprinkling of black pepper. Pour in enough boiling water to cover and stir. Put the lid on the casserole and put it on the middle shelf of a 400°F (200°C, Gas Mark 6) oven.
After about I hour the beans should be cooked and the gravy nicely blended.
Move the casserole to the bottom of the oven. Put the pork skin on the rack near the top of the oven and stand a roasting tin on the rack beneath to catch the drips. After 30 minutes the skin should be nicely crackled.
Break the crackling into small bits, scatter over the top of the beans and serve immediately.
Please also see also “Eat more Beans”: our conversation with Josiah Meldrum and Nick Saltmarsh, co-founders of the pioneer company Hodmedod’s, posted under “Videos” on October 27, 2023.
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