Red Beans (Haricots Rouges)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan with lid
• •10-inch skillet
• •Fine-mesh colander set over a heatproof bowl
• •Kitchen twine for the bouquet garni
• •Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Quick-soak the beans

   Put the sorted beans in a heavy saucepan with 6 cups of the water. Bring them to a full boil for 2 minutes, cover, remove from the heat, and leave them for 1 hour. Drain and rinse. This hot soak replaces the brigade's unspoken overnight preparation without changing the bean or its cooking liquor.

   Discard any beans that are badly shriveled or pierced. A few split skins after soaking are harmless; the interior, not the skin, decides when the bean is cooked.
2. 2

   Build the cooking pot

   Return the drained beans to the saucepan. Add the remaining 3 cups water, the red wine, salt, whole piece of bacon, carrot, clove-stuck onion, and bouquet garni. Bring everything to a rolling boil and keep it there, uncovered, for 10 full minutes. This hard boil is essential when cooking dried red kidney beans. Lower the heat until the liquid barely trembles, then partially cover the pan.

3. 3

   Withdraw the bacon

   After 25 minutes at the gentle simmer, test the bacon. Lift it out as soon as it is opaque through the center and tender enough to dice, usually within 25 to 35 minutes, then set it aside. Continue simmering the beans until one crushes into a smooth cream between your tongue and palate with no pale, chalky core, usually another 45 to 75 minutes. If the beans rise above the liquid while still firm, add boiling water 1/2 cup at a time. Ça se rattrape: dry beans need more water and patience, not fiercer heat.

   Keep the simmer quiet. A violent boil bursts the skins before the centers soften, leaving you with broken beans that are still hard inside.
4. 4

   Set the cooking liquor

   Remove and discard the carrot, clove-stuck onion, and bouquet garni. Drain the beans over a bowl, reserving every drop of their wine-dark cooking liquor. Return the beans to the saucepan with 3/4 cup of that liquor. If you have less, make up the difference with hot water; if you have more, keep it nearby for loosening the liaison.

5. 5

   Frizzle the bacon

   Cut the cooked bacon into small dice. Melt the unsalted butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the bacon when the foam subsides. Frizzle it until the edges turn bronze and the butter smells nutty, about 3 to 5 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat, keeping both bacon and butter ready for the finish. Butter, not margarine. The flavor of this final frizzle is part of the dish.

6. 6

   Bind without boiling

   Warm the beans and their measured liquor over low heat until the surface only trembles. Take the pan off the heat and add the freshly prepared Manied Butter (No. 151) in small pieces, stirring each one through before adding the next. Return the pan to the lowest heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently, until the sauce gleams and coats the beans. Never let it boil. If the liaison clumps, lift the beans out with a slotted spoon and whisk the liquor off the heat until smooth. Ça se rattrape. If it becomes too tight or catches its first bubble, remove it immediately and stir in reserved cooking liquor one spoonful at a time.

7. 7

   Fold in the bacon

   Fold the frizzled bacon and its browned butter through the bound beans without breaking them. Taste before adding any more salt, since the bacon has concentrated during frizzling. Spoon the Haricots Rouges into a warm serving bowl and bring them straight to the table, glossy, generous, and ready for a roast or braise. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use dried red beans that have not been sitting forgotten for years. Old beans eventually soften, but the red wine makes an already stubborn bean more patient still. If they remain chalky, keep simmering and replenish with boiling water.
• •Choose a dry, supple red wine with modest tannin. A young Gamay or pinot noir works well; a heavily oaked or aggressively tannic bottle turns stern as the liquid concentrates.
• •Lean unsmoked slab bacon keeps faith with the source. Thin breakfast rashers cook too quickly to perfume the beans and become dry when frizzled a second time.
• •Canned beans skip the cooking stage that carries wine, clove, bacon, and bouquet into the bean itself. They can make supper, but they cannot reproduce this particular formula.
• •Keep leftover cooking liquor. The liaison thickens as it stands, and a spoonful of that liquor restores its gloss during gentle reheating without diluting the flavor.

Advance Preparation

• •For a shorter cooking evening, soak the beans in plenty of cold water for 8 to 12 hours, then drain and begin with the cooking pot. This replaces the one-hour hot soak.
• •The beans can be simmered with the wine, bacon, and aromatics earlier the same day. Cool them in their cooking liquor, then reheat gently before frizzling the bacon and making the liaison.
• •Prepare Manied Butter (No. 151) immediately before binding the beans, as its own formula directs. It is a finished component reached for at service, not something to leave waiting overnight.
• •Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days. Reheat over low heat with reserved cooking liquor or water added by the spoonful, and never allow the finished liaison to boil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)