SC - Cassoulet

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Decker, Terry D. wrote:

> I was thinking more of chasing back through the references on food
> history rather than working through the recipe referenced before the
> comments on kidney beans.

The main problem with that is that it puts us in the "well, they COULD
have done it this way..." mindset. I'll admit that it can be gallingly
limiting sometimes to restrict ourselves only to the logically
supportable "sure things", but the fact remains that could have, and
did, aren't the same thing. All we can prove with the references on food
history is that they might have done it a certain way, or they might not
have. While I'm sure foods were eaten in period for which few or no
recipes survive (so there's still hope for the eventual extinction of
the green bean casserole, folks!), we really have no way of knowing for
sure what they were like. Using extant recipes, however, gives us a
picture of period eating habits that, while not complete, is at least
pretty accurate, apparently.
> 
> I was considering redacting the recipe using favas for a dinner party
> I'm planning.  Since I have not cooked favas, your advice about using
> split favas is definitely appreciated.  Do you have any other advice
> about the use or preparation of fava beans which you would share with
> us?

Favas can be either fresh, dried, or canned. I've never seen them
frozen, so far as I know. Mature favas have a fairly tough husk on them.
This is not the seed pod or shell itself, which gets opened to get at
the bean. This is what I believe is termed the cotyledon of the bean. In
any case, if you take some fava beans out of the shell, and cook them,
you may find that they have an unpleasantly tough outer layer, which
makes them a little difficult to deal with if the beans are to be left
even semi-whole. Even fresh favas have this husk on them, except in the
case of really tiny baby ones, where it isn't as tough, and can be
eaten.

If all you can find is dried whole favas, I'll say I have had good
results with boiling them like any other large beans, and then pushing
them through a strainer to separate the pulp from the husks. A Foley or
Mouli food mill, which is really just a colander with a sort of crank
propeller, is also excllent for this. If you want to preserve their
shape, though, you'll need to do this by hand, individually.

Middle Eastern markets are a good place to get split, dried favas, which
are more or less like split peas, and about as easy to work with.

Then, of course, there's the medieval European approach, which is to
make canebyns. These are a preparation of dry favas which consists of
soaking them until they begin to swell up and almost germinate, like
malt. They will split partway out of that leathery husk, and then it is
easier to remove. The beans are then cut into smaller pieces (remember
favas are sometimes an inch long) and toasted to help dry them. 

I did a little experimentation to satisfy myself that there was no
enzymatic stuff going on, as the process did rather resemble malting.
I'm sure there was enzymatic stuff going on, but it doesn't seem to have
affected the beans in the short term, especially after cutting them up
and toasting them.

I suspect that the process for making canebyns may have been developed
as a way to make sure the beans were fully dried before they spoiled,
which may well have been an issue in the temperate but rather humid
climate found in some parts of England and France in period. Most of the
canebyn recipes I've seen are English, although I have seen, IIRC, one
or perhaps two that are French.

Speaking as one who has actually made these suckers, I'll say that while
the process works, and is fascinating, I'd just as soon buy split favas
at Charlie Sahadi's in Brooklyn.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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