As you can imagine, I have a rather large (O.K., huge) collection of cookbooks, especially on Mexican food. Before everyone and his brother was writing about Mexican food, there was very little good stuff available. I still love collecting less than helpful, pre-Diana Kennnedy era, cookbooks. There is so much wrong with most of them but you can’t help thinking they maybe got one or two things right and the enthusiasm (and often the graphics) are charming.
One huge exception to these old books is Cooking and Curing with Mexican Herbs by Dolores L. Latorre, a book focusing on the cuisine and herbs of Northern Mexico. Most of the food is simple and there are very few compromises, which is nice. When you consider the book was written in 1977, it’s impressive.
This is a simple recipe for Puerco Con Frijoles (Pork and Beans) and I’ve exchanged the ubiquitous pintos with our exceptional Eye of the Goat, a bean that would also be right at home in Coahuila, Mexico.
Puerco con frijoles
Serves 6
1/2 pound lean pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 serrano chiles, seeds and veins removed
1 teaspoon Oregano Indio
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oil
3 cups cooked Eye of the Goat beans (or Pintos)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Brown pork in oil; add the onion, garlic and chiles and stir until the onion is glazed. Add Oregano Indio, cumin, about 1/2 cup of bean broth, salt, and pepper, and gently simmer for 20 minutes. Combine with beans and simmer for 10 minutes longer.
Serve hot with bowls of raw chopped onion, fresh table salsa and limes so guests can help themselves to the toppings.
(Adapted from Cooking and Curing with Mexican Herbs (Encino Press 1977) by Dolores L. LaTorre)
Buy Eye of the Goat heirloom beans at Rancho Gordo.
Buy Oregano Indio at Rancho Gordo.
I’d like to be able to print a recipe. In lieu of a printer icon, I try to cut and paste the recipe into a Word document, then print. This recipe sounds delicious, but there is no way I can highlight just the recipe; the entire page including the photograph is highlighted. I gave up. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks to Dan for the copy and paste.
We’ll add it to the main website where it will be printable automatically.
Puerco con frijoles
Serves 6
1/2 pound lean pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 serrano chiles, seeds and veins removed
1 teaspoon Oregano Indio
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oil
3 cups cooked Eye of the Goat beans (or Pintos)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Brown pork in oil; add the onion, garlic and chiles and stir until the onion is glazed. Add Oregano Indio, cumin, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes. Combine with beans and simmer for 10 minutes longer.
Serve hot with bowls of raw chopped onion, fresh table salsa and limes so guests can help themselves to the toppings.
Thanks!
Sounds terrific. I wonder what cut of pork you’d use that is “lean pork?” Suggestion, please? Thank you!
With only 20 minutes, I’m guessing loin.
I always cut and paste recipes from blogs–so I can make it all BOLD and enlarge the print! haha, otherwise I can’t cook without really strong glasses that make ya dizzy–
How are you doing the highlighting? I have always been able to get just the recipe by putting my cursor on the first letter of the title, and then holding down the left mouse button and pulling it down (that’s on a Windows machine in FireFox or Chrome – I know, no help if you have a different system!). I then copy it over into a Word document, which lets me delete any extra stuff I may get.
You can also click on the ‘cooking’ tab, and see if the recipe is over there – those seem to have ‘print’ buttons (but it probably takes a little time for the recipe to make its way from the blog over to the tab).
We’re working on making every page printable but in the meantime, check out the Evernote app. They have a chrome extension that makes a Simplified Page and it’s perfect for printing or saving. I do it myself all the time.
Help! I see the word “simmer” twice in this recipe but do not see any liquid in the Ingredient List. What’s up?
Sorry. The newsletter came out early due to a glitch and we didn’t have a chance to fix this recipe. Should be clear now.
The liquid would come from the broth which is made by the beans cooking in water.
“Brown pork in oil; add the onion, garlic and chiles and stir until the onion is glazed. Add Oregano Indio, cumin, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.”
Nope. The first time simmering is mention, there’s no beans involved yet and no discussion of what liquid should be used, or how much.
Sorry. The newsletter came out early due to a glitch and we didn’t have a chance to fix this recipe. Should be clear now.
What if I can’t get serrano peppers here in New England? Any suggestions on a substitute?
Jalapeños would be great. You want a dense, fresh bright chile.