Purée de Haricots Blancs dite Soissonnaise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large soaking bowl
• •4-quart heavy saucepan for cooking the beans
• •2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan with high sides for finishing
• •Fine-disc food mill or sturdy fine-mesh sieve
• •Heatproof bowl and flexible scraper
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Strong wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Pick over the beans and rinse them. For the most even cooking, cover them generously with cool water and soak for 8 to 12 hours, then drain. For a one-evening schedule, cover them with fresh water in the cooking saucepan, boil for 2 minutes, cover, remove from the heat, and leave for 1 hour before draining. The change is only in scheduling; the purée's defining sequence remains untouched.

2. 2

   Cook until yielding

   Put the drained beans in a large saucepan with the 7 cups of fresh water and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Bring to a boil, skim any pale froth, then lower the heat until the water barely trembles. Cook until the beans are completely tender, usually 1¼ to 2 hours depending on their size and age. Add hot water if they begin to emerge above the surface. A bean pressed between two fingers must collapse without a chalky centre; undercooked beans will never make a smooth Soissonnaise. Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid and keep the beans hot in the rest.

3. 3

   Sieve them hot

   Set a fine-disc food mill over the heavy finishing saucepan, or place a sturdy fine-mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl. Drain only a ladleful of beans at a time and pass them immediately, using the mill or pressing firmly with a flexible scraper; leave the skins behind. Burning-hot means fully hot and yielding, not handled with bare fingers. If a batch cools and resists, return it to the cooking liquid for 2 minutes, then try again. Ça se rattrape.

   Do not use a blender. Its blades work the skins into the beans and can turn the starch pasty, while a sieve gives the fine, close texture the dish requires.
4. 4

   Weigh in butter

   Weigh the hot, sieved purée. For every 1 pound (454 g), measure exactly 3 ounces (85 g) of butter; this batch should yield close to that amount, but the scale governs. Put the purée in the heavy saucepan and beat in the softened butter in three additions, making each disappear before adding the next. Keep the pan over low heat if needed, but add no milk yet. The butter must be inside the purée before the hard drying begins.

5. 5

   Dry it hard

   Set the saucepan over medium-high heat, the honest home equivalent of the fierce range in the source, and beat continuously with a strong wooden spoon while scraping the bottom and corners. Dessécher for 5 to 8 minutes, until the purée gathers into a single mass, pulls cleanly from the pan, and holds a deep track left by the spoon. Keep it ivory, not browned. If it begins to catch, lift the pan at once and transfer the unscorched purée to a clean saucepan without scraping the darkened bottom; continue over slightly lower heat.

6. 6

   Loosen with milk

   Lower the heat and beat in ¼ cup (60 ml) of the warm milk. Add more a tablespoon at a time only until the purée is smooth, glossy, and soft enough to mound from a spoon without running. If too much milk slips in, return the pan to medium-high heat and beat until the excess moisture leaves. Taste and add the remaining salt as needed. Spoon into a warm serving dish and bring it straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •True haricots de Soissons give the dish its name and a particularly delicate, creamy flesh. If they cannot be found, choose another large dried white haricot with intact skins and recent turnover; technique matters more than a prestigious packet.
• •A fine-disc food mill is the safest home equivalent of rubbing burning-hot beans through a sieve. A strong sieve also works, but pass small batches and use a ladle rather than your hands.
• •We don't apologize for butter, and we don't guess at it. The source gives three ounces of butter for every pound of sieved purée, so weigh the beans after passing and preserve that proportion.
• •Use whole milk, not cream. Milk loosens the dried purée without burying the bean's flavor, while cream changes both the balance and the source formula.
• •Serve the Soissonnaise with roast pork, sausages, lamb, or a simple braise. It needs no herb confetti or decorative oil; the butter sheen is its finish.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the beans in cool water for 8 to 12 hours before cooking. This gives the large beans the most even texture and reduces the evening's work to simmering, sieving, and finishing.
• •For the cleanest make-ahead result, prepare the purée through the hard-drying stage, cool it promptly, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat it over low heat, then add the warm milk only when preparing to serve.
• •A fully finished purée can also be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat it gently with a spoonful of milk, beating until the butter and bean starch return to a smooth gloss.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)