My Legume Love Affair: Frankfurters and Beans

When I saw that Simona, my partner in the semiannual Novel Food events, was hosting an event called My Legume Love Affair, I knew I wanted to join in. Actually, I've been meaning to cook a dish for the event since forever; it was started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook quite a while ago and is wildly popular. MLLA is a great event that you'll want to look into if you are a bean and legume lover (as I am). The event gets a lot of entries (radical understatement), so the roundup posts are always chock full of interesting dishes and recipes to try.

Recently, as you may know, I hosted a celebration of Julia Child's birthday on this blog. For the legume love-fest, I decided to consult the work of another American culinary master: James Beard. I'd picked up a copy of James Beard's American Cookery a few months ago at Jane Addams Bookshop, the used-and-rare bookstore in downtown Champaign (there are tons of cookbooks in that store, as I reported in a post last summer). So I perused the "Dried Beans, Peas, and Lentils" section of the almost 850-page James Beard tome for ideas.

When I came upon the recipe for frankfurters and beans, I decided that was the one, because I happened to have a package of all-beef wieners from Triple S Farm (a new product that Triple S unveiled this year). The dish was very tasty; beans and franks in a savory-sweet tomato sauce, classic comfort food. Mr. Beard calls it "one of the most American dishes of all." Here is the recipe.

Frankfurters and Beans
From James Beard's American Cookery, published in 1972

2 cups dried white beans, Great Northern, cannellini, or pea beans (I used Great Northerns)
Water
Salt
1 onion stuck with cloves
4 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups canned tomatoes, preferably Italian plum tomatoes
3/4 cup catsup
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 to 10 frankfurters

Cover the beans with cold water, bring to a boil, and then let rest 1 hour. Simmer with the salt and onion stuck with cloves until tender. Drain them, reserving about 1 cup of liquid. While the beans are simmering, saute the garlic and onion in the butter, and when they are just soft add the tomatoes and let them cook down till rather thickish. Add the catsup, pepper, and salt if needed. Combine the sauce with the drained beans, butter, and reserved liquid, and reheat. Heat the frankfurters through in boiling water. Spoon the beans into a hot deep platter. Surround with the frankfurters. Serve with mustard, a hearty salad, and crisp rolls.

The only way in which we departed from the recipe was that we cut the franks up and heated them right in the bean mixture instead of boiling them separately and serving them on the side. Other than that, we followed Mr. Beard's suggestions exactly, even down to the mustard, salad, and rolls. All I can say is: Yum! A keeper.

The deadline for entries into the My Legume Love Affair event is August 31; soon after, Simona will publish a roundup containing links to all of the submissions. When that post is up, I'll link to it here, so check back—it's a roundup well worth looking at.

Update 9-3-10: Here is the link to Simona's roundup post, where you'll find recipes for many fine dishes involving legumes!