Bean Goo

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Roon1970

A pound of dried black beans. So far, so simple, though when I was making the dish in the UK this used to be the biggest hassle to find. I’d bring back bags from the US in my suitcase.

A big, unsmoked, meaty ham hock. Or pork knuckle, as it may be called near you. However, note: you want it unsmoked . My mother used to sometimes put in a second one that was smoked, but you ideally want unsmoked for the core (they’re weirdly hard to get in Santa Cruz, as it seems there’s not many butchers who break their own carcasses: I thankfully found a stall that does them at the Sunday Farmers’ Market) because part of the essence of the dish is how the hock not only ends up contributing meat, but provides a stock in which the beans cook. Smoked hocks don’t perform either function so well. A big, unsmoked, meaty ham hock. Or pork knuckle, as it may be called near you. However, note: you want it unsmoked . My mother used to sometimes put in a second one that was smoked, but you ideally want unsmoked for the core (they’re weirdly hard to get in Santa Cruz, as it seems there’s not many butchers who break their own carcasses: I thankfully found a stall that does them at the Sunday Farmers’ Market) because part of the essence of the dish is how the hock not only ends up contributing meat, but provides a stock in which the beans cook. Smoked hocks don’t perform either function so well.

Half a dozen, or more, Spanish picante cooking chorizo. This is the difficult one (for me, at least). You do not want Mexican ground chorizo. You preferably do not want precooked sausages, because they’ll stay hard and — like the ham — this ingredient does two jobs: being there to eat, but also leaking out its wonderful paprika and chili-infused oils into the sauce. The gold standard for me is the Brindisa Picante brand . To my despair, they don’t import to the USA (I actually had an email exchange with their head office about it) and none of the local options replicate the entirety of the flavor. I have to patch together something nearly right from various Linguica and American hot sausages (smoked Polish sausage also works, and my mother used to add some to hers). It’s still great. Half a dozen, or more, Spanish picante cooking chorizo. This is the difficult one (for me, at least). You do not want Mexican ground chorizo. You preferably do not want precooked sausages, because they’ll stay hard and - like the ham - this ingredient does two jobs: being there to eat, but also leaking out its wonderful paprika and chili-infused oils into the sauce. The gold standard for me is the Brindisa Picante brand . To my despair, they don’t import to the USA (I actually had an email exchange with their head office about it) and none of the local options replicate the entirety of the flavor. I have to patch together something nearly right from various Linguica and American hot sausages (smoked Polish sausage also works, and my mother used to add some to hers). It’s still great.

Water . This is conveniently available from a tap.

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