Real Food Recipes

A collection of recipes both ancient and contemporary, to help incorporate real and whole foods into a modern life.

Refried Beans (for Canning)

The US government disapproves of people canning refried beans at home. Just so you know. So it can be hard to find instructions on doing so.

I made sure my beans were a little thinner than usual for canning them (to ensure good heat penetration), and they turned out just great. If you are a little leery of doing them, then use the safety net - just heat the beans to boiling and keep them bubbling for about 10 minutes after you open the jar (this neutralizes botulism toxins).

There is some confusion out there as to what the term "refried" means, and you do NOT need to fry them twice, that's just silly. The name refers to the fact that they were generally made from leftover beans from the night before, and cooked in a skillet with pork fat, so they just fell apart from the additional cooking. Over time, people began mashing or pureeing the beans as well as just cooking them. You don't even have to fry them at all, just cook them WELL, mash or blend all or part, and it will make really excellent beans.

 

Refried Beans

2 lbs pinto or pink beans
fat from 1 lb of bacon

dried onion (about 1/2 cup)
garlic granules (sprinkle lightly)

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
Salt to taste
pepper to taste
taco seasoning or chili powder if wanted, to taste


Add dry beans to Dutch oven and add 4 qts of water to cover. Cook on high till the beans come to a boil for about two minutes and turn off the heat, cover and let the beans sit in the pot covered for 30 to 45 minutes. Once the beans have sat they will have absorbed a lot of the water. Drain the beans through a colander and then add 4 qts of fresh water and add the onions and garlic. Cook the beans again until tender (you should be able to smash them between your fingers).

Drain the broth (can reserve it for use in soups if you like), and add 2 cups back into the beans. MASH beans (you can use a potato masher, or a stick blender, or run them in a regular blender or food processor if you want, but leave some texture behind). Add seasonings, bacon fat, and butter.

Beans should be slightly thin for refried beans, you want them to be BARELY pourable, not pasty (they will thicken as they cool, and as they sit in storage).

Put into jars, leaving 1 1/2 inches headspace (beans expand when they boil). Add lids.

Pressure can at 10 lbs pressure (adjusted for altitude), for 75 minutes for pints.

Really Pork and Beans (Not Baked Beans)

I searched for a long time to find a pork and bean recipe that was really pork and beans. I finally discovered that the ones I really like (Van Camp's), use tomato juice and not tomato sauce in the recipe, and that has made a tremendous difference. I like the lighter flavor of that brand of pork and beans.

 

Really and Truly Pork and Beans
(or Beanie Weenie base)

1 lb White Beans
3 sm can V-8 (8 oz)
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Mustard
1 tbsp Paprika
3 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Cider Vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp Seasoning Salt
2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
12 oz bacon, cooked, crumbled, fat reserved, or you can do salt pork chunks

Add dry beans to Dutch oven and add 8 cups of water to cover. Cook on high till the beans comes to a boil for about two minutes and turn off the heat, cover and let the beans sit in the pot covered for 30 to 45 minutes. Once the beans have sat they will have absorbed a lot of the water. Drain the beans through a colander and then add 8 cups of fresh water. Cook the beans again for 15 minutes at a full boil.

In the meantime, in another saucepan mix 2 cups of water, plus the other ingredients (including bacon fat), cook to get a slow boil.  It should be mild tasting and not thick.

Prepare 6 pint jars. Using a slotted spoon fill the jars 3/4 full of the beans. Once all the jars are filled ladle the sauce into the jars leaving 1" headspace to leave room for expansion (divide sauce evenly, add a little more water if you need to). Process the jars in a pressure canner at 11 pounds of pressure (adjusted for altitude) for 75 minutes.

Mango Chutney

Use with meats, I stir about 1/4 cup into a pot of chili, and it helps me digest the beans better, as well as adding a faint sweet sidenote. Chutneys help with providing additional enzymes and nutrient fragments to enhance digestion and metabolization of many foods.

This is a mild chutney, without significant heat. It is sweet, tangy, mildly spicy, savory, and only lightly pungent.

    5 lbs mangos (about 10, fully ripe), diced
    2 cups red grapes
    2 cups cubed pears, apples, or pineapple
    1 fresh Fennel bulb, chopped
    1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
    1 fresh onion, chopped
    1 clove of garlic, minced
    1/4 tsp cayenne
    1/2 cup  lime juice
    2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    2 cups granulated sugar
    1 lemon, juiced (or lemon powder, or ground candied peel)
    1/4 tsp nutmeg
    1/2 tsp cinnamon
    1 tsp turmeric
    1 teaspoon chili powder
    1 tsp curry powder
    1 tsp ground ginger
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 cup nut butter (not peanut) - optional, I use almond
    1/2 cup honey

Cook down until thickened, bottle immediately.

A Coddiwomple Farm Original Recipe!

Mushroom Steak Sauce

Pureed mushrooms right in the sauce! A mellow tangy and savory flavor that brightens up steak, eggs, potatoes, chicken, pork, or beans. Rich reddish brown in color, with a smooth thick texture.

I got caught one morning by a post from a friend, leading me to a video on making Mushroom Ketchup. This is entirely different from this recipe - traditional Mushroom Ketchup is a thin and watery sauce that is mostly mushroom broth with some other flavors added, and vinegar to preserve it. I wanted to see if I could make something richer in flavor, thicker in substance, and a little more like the familiar red ketchup that we all know. I figured maybe there was a way to make a savory version that pulled the meaty flavor from the mushrooms while cloaking the fungusy part that I can't stand. I succeeded wonderfully, and the result is truly delicious! I named it as a steak sauce, simply because when I sampled it, I really wanted a nice medium rare steak to smother under it!

Any kind of mushroom will do, though this sauce works best with savory or meaty flavored mushrooms, not delicate or fruity flavored - I used Porcini, because that is what I had a lot of, but you can use Portobello, Oyster, Shiitake, Straw, etc.

 

Mushroom Steak Sauce

1 large can tomato juice
2 oz dried mushrooms plus 2 cups water, OR 1 lb fresh
1 large onion, chopped
2 large red peppers, quartered and deseeded
1 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp Redmond Seasoning Salt
1/2 tbsp liquid smoke
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp salt (more or less)
1/4 tsp Marjoram

4 Bay leaf

Cook all but bay leaves until soft, puree, add bay leaves, and cook until thickened. Remove bay leaves, put in jars, WB for 20 min.

Makes approximately 8 cups of sauce.

A Coddiwomple Farm Original Recipe! Inspired by the Townsend Blog, recipe for 18th century Mushroom Ketchup, which was a different thing altogether from what I made.

Notice

The information on this site is presented for informational purposes only, and consists of the opinions and experiences of the site authors. It is not to be construed as medical advice or to be used to diagnose or treat any illness. Seek the assistance of a medical professional in implementing any nutritional changes with the goal of treating any medical condition. The historical and nutritional information presented here can be verified by a simple web search.

I do what I do because I understand the science behind it, and I've researched worldwide sources to verify the safety of my practices to my own satisfaction. Please do your own research, and proceed AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

 


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