My Rancho Gordo care package

Some weeks ago, during the course of writing a cooking story on beans and greens, I had the happy privilege of a few telephone conversations with Rancho Gordo founder Steve Sando.  Rancho Gordo is the Napa company that markets a terrific assortment of dried heirloom beans, which Sando sources himself during treks through the Americas.  (The humble bean has gone chic: Rancho Gordo was No. 2 in this year's Saveur Magazine 100; the company's biggest customer is the California headquarters of Google.)  Sando -- empassioned, funny, articulate -- told me about his clay pot experiments; his firm belief that really good beans don't need anything more than water and mirepoix to bring out their true flavors (i.e., no ham hocks, no stock); and that he's been busy translating his hills of beans into a book, due out in September. 

Sando was also the inspiration for the Christmas lima bean taco recipe that I've been making obsessively since. Finally, I got online and ordered packages of Good Mother Stallard, Goat's Eye and Black Calypso beans; a bottle of pure Mexican vanilla extract; and Rancho Gordo's Gay Caballero very hot sauce.

And here's one of the resulting tacos, built with the Good Mother Stallard beans, tomatillo-radish-cilantro salsa, avocado from my editor's tree, and a generous pour of the hot sauce.  It was very, very good.  The beans, cooked with only water and a little diced onion sweated in olive oil, were dense and nutty, deeply flavorful and unusually shapely, if such a thing can be said about a bean.  Even after reheating the next day, they were beautiful, discrete, perfectly articulated on the plate.  And the hot sauce -- a blissfully incendiary concoction, with a surprising jolt of cloves and allspice -- well, let's just say that E. Annie Proulx (who wrote the short story "Brokeback Mountain") should by rights have a cabinet full of the stuff.  If she doesn't, I may have to order another care package and have it shipped to Wyoming. 

Rancho Gordo: New World Specialty Food; 1755 Industrial Way #26, Napa, California; (707) 259-1935.

-- Amy Scattergood

Photos by Amy Scattergood

Comments

[Liz]

"beautiful, discrete, perfectly articulated " Wow.That's certainly a mouthful.

[bean indiscrete]

"they were beautiful, discrete, perfectly articulated on the plate." Did you get this sentence from your editor, along with the avacado? You kids are seriously hard up for adjectives.

[Andrew Z]

Looking at the cost of about $4-$5 a pound for these beans, does anyone have any idea how that compares to just the regular dried beans you can buy?

Not saying price is everything, it isn't, I was just curious.

I can't remember the last time I bought dried beans so I have nothing to judge against.

However, I will be buying some from Rancho Cordo, these things look AWESOME!!!

Thanks for the head's up.

[carey]

Hi Amy,

I second your "rave" their beans are just sublime!

Cheers