Bastille Day Beans

If you don't grill on the Fourth of July, make up for the oversight ten days later on the equivalent French holiday. These twice-cooked baked beans, inspired by Gallic cassoulets, are perfect for that occasion and many others. To really impress any guests from France—and blow their stereotype of Americans as food Puritans—add a garlicky sausage or other meat to the beans, as they would at home, and substitute duck or goose fat for the olive oil.

 

SERVES 8 OR MORE

 

1	pound dried navy beans, cannellini, or other small white beans
6	cups chicken stock
2	cups water
1	large onion, chopped fine
6	garlic cloves, minced
1	tablespoon minced fresh thyme
2	bay leaves
1	teaspoon salt, or more to taste
3	tablespoons butter
2	cups dry bread crumbs
2	tablespoons olive oil
1	medium onion, chopped
4	garlic cloves, minced
6 to 8	ounces grilled sausage, sliced into thin rounds, optional

Pick through the beans carefully and rinse them, looking for any gravel or grit. Place the beans in a stockpot or large, heavy saucepan. Cover them with stock and water and add the onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring the beans just to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans, uncovered. Plan on a total cooking time of about 2 hours, possibly longer with obstinate beans.

After 1 hour, stir up the beans from the bottom and check the water level. If there is not at least 1 inch more water than beans, add enough hot water to bring it up to that level. Check the beans after another 30 minutes, repeating the process. Add the salt after the beans are well softened and continue simmering. Check every 15 minutes, keeping the level of liquid just above the beans. There should be extra liquid at the completion of the cooking time, but the beans should not be watery. (The beans can be made to this point a day in advance. Cool them, then refrigerate covered. The beans do not need to be reheated before proceeding, but add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In an ovenproof skillet, prefer ably 10 to 12 inches in diameter, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Stir in the bread crumbs and cook them until crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Scrape the crumbs onto a plate and wipe out the skillet. Return the skillet to medium heat and warm the remaining tablespoon of butter and the oil. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook an additional minute or two. Stir the beans and their liquid into the skillet, along with the grilled sausage if you wish. The beans should be suspended in creamy, moist liquid. If the liquid has thick ened too much, add enough water to stir them easily. Spoon the bread crumbs over the beans, patting the crumbs down evenly.

Cover the skillet and bake the beans for 25 to 30 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 425°F and uncover the beans. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bread crumbs are nicely browned and the beans are thick and bubbly.

Serve the beans hot.

---

Gathering Around the Grill

You have to wonder whether food flavor had much to do with the surge in popularity of grilling right after World War II. Books and magazine articles of the period often focused as much on the relaxed conviviality of the outdoor setting as on techniques and recipes. Though it was seldom stated directly, the grill became the centerpiece of a national party celebrating the end of the long, horrible war, and the return to normal family life.

No one summed up the spirit better than Helen Evans Brown in her Patio Cook Book (Ward Ritchie Press, 1951). In introducing her subject, she says the book is less about grilling than about the delights of outdoor dining and entertaining. "All over America the patio has become the pleasantest part of summer living That is the place where warm leisurely days begin and end, where breakfast coffee is a drink sublime, and where the simplest supper, served under the stars, becomes a memorable meal When the menu is simple, the service casual, when everyone helps and pot luck is always good luck, we need never hesitate to ask our friends to share our food. Every meal is a party meal."

Genevieve Callahan, another California cook, expressed similar sentiments in the pages of Sunset, and the magazine's barbecue cookbooks even included a section on types of games to play before and after a grilled feast. To keep guests from getting bored by having to stand around and talk, the editors suggested afternoon matches of croquet, horseshoes, Ping-Pong, shuffleboard, or bean bags. After dinner, they advised stringing floodlights for table games such as dominoes, or gathering everyone around the fire for guessing games, maybe "Twenty Questions," "Coffeepot," or "Geography."

A like mood prevailed on the East Coast. In That Man in the Kitchen (Houghton Mifflin, 1946), Malcolm LaPrade described the scene on the penthouse terraces of large New York apartment buildings. "This entire community of roof-dwellers has gone in for outdoor cookery, and on a fine summer's evening the appetizing aroma of grilled steaks and chops permeates the air, mingling with the subtle perfume of geraniums and rambler roses." On every balcony, LaPrade wrote, you could watch the men "turning well-browned pieces of meat over the flames while their wives loll at ease in deck chairs, looking most attractive in gaily colored slacks, and chatting pleasantly with groups of guests. It is a cheering spectacle which speaks well for a newly discovered appreciation of the amenities of life in a modern apartment house."

---