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Stewed Kidney Beans
Cook one quart of kidney beans the same as lima beans. When done, drain. Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan, and place it on the fire to melt, when melted add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and the beans, stir and cook five minutes, then add a gill of stock, a half teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of black pepper; simmer twenty minutes, take from the fire and stir in the well beaten yolks of two eggs and the juice of half a lemon, and serve,
A summer dish built on fresh shell beans and finished with an egg-and-lemon liaison. The finish is where it succeeds or fails.
- The hinge: the yolks must not boilOnce the beaten yolks go in, the pan is off the heat for good. Stir a ladle of the hot bean liquid into the yolks first, then return the mixture to the pan; direct heat after that will scramble them and break the sauce.
- Which beansA quart of "kidney beans" is most likely fresh shell beans measured after shelling rather than dried beans, since the recipe describes no soaking or long boil. Roughly 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb shelled fresh cranberry or borlotti beans is a reasonable modern stand-in. Dried kidney beans would need overnight soaking and a hard boil, which the recipe does not describe.
- "The same as lima beans"That means boiled in salted water until tender, roughly 25-35 minutes for fresh shell beans, then drained. Nothing more elaborate appears to be intended.
- A gillHalf a cup, 4 fl oz. Any light chicken or vegetable stock does the work.
- Two ounces of butterFour tablespoons, half a stick.
- Twenty minutes of simmeringThat is long for beans already cooked through. Watch the pan: the point is to reduce the stock to a few spoonfuls of glaze around the beans, and once it has, stop, regardless of the clock.
- SaltA half teaspoon assumes unsalted stock and unsalted butter. Taste before adding it if yours are not.
- YieldRoughly four to six as a side dish. Best served at once - reheating will curdle the yolks.
The finish - butter, stock, egg yolks and lemon juice stirred in off the fire - is a plain domestic version of the French egg-yolk liaison, the same principle behind a blanquette sauce. "Kidney bean" in this period was used loosely for the fresh shelled bean as well as the dried red one, which may be why the measure is a volume of beans rather than a weight. Lemon and parsley in place of a long-simmered sauce buys brightness without extra time at the stove.