North America · Volume 30, The Three Sisters, the Bison and the Piki Stone
Tepary Bean Stew
Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- Not statedNo source states a time and the atlas has too few comparable dishes to estimate one.
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Tepary Bean Stew
Native Seeds/SEARCH-adjacent and general Southwest bean sourcing, moderate confidence. 90 minutes to 4 hours simmer, or 6 to 8 hours slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried tepary beans
- roughly 8 cups water
Method
- Soak the beans overnight, or a minimum of 8 hours.
- Bring roughly 8 cups water to 1 cup dried beans to a low boil.
- Simmer 90 minutes to 3 or 4 hours until tender, or cook 6 to 8 hours on low in a slow cooker.
- Cook simply, into bean stews, letting the bean's own dense, nutty character carry the dish.
Notes
Teparies are noted as smaller, denser and slower cooking than common beans.
What a modern chef changes
A steady low simmer, two textures, the bean's own glaze
Method
- Cook the soaked beans sous vide at a precise, sustained low simmer rather than on an unwatched hob, holding them at a steady temperature for the full three to four hours without any risk of a hard boil breaking their skins.
- Toast a portion of dried beans whole in the spice grinder's own grinding chamber briefly before cooking, cracking rather than powdering them, then cook these alongside the whole beans for a two-texture stew.
- Finish with a spoonful of the beans' own cooking liquor, reduced separately in a small pan to a light glaze and stirred back through, rather than a foreign fat or dairy enrichment.