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Featured Chef Crescent Dragonwagon
Bio
Crescent Dragonwagon is the James Beard Award-winning author of seven cookbooks, including Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook, Passionate Vegetarian, The Cornbread Gospels and, most recently, BEAN BY BEAN: A Cookbook. She is also a contributing editor to Relish magazine and has appeared on Good Morning America, Today and NPR's The Splendid Table.
She lives on a farm in Vermont, where she grows and cooks her own beans. Her website is: Dragonwagon.com.
Interview
Please tell us about your new cookbook, Bean by Bean.
Readers are often kind enough to say things to me like, "I felt you were right there in the kitchen with me, holding my hand." I hope that in the 175+ recipes, and informational pieces, this will again be true. Beans are such a remarkable, generous ingredient - versatile, inexpensive, given to a thousand variations and seasonings, in dry form so high in protein, and very, very, sustainable / small footprint - that I'm amazed more people don't cook them from scratch week in and week out. I want to entice people into the kitchen, and be seduced and intrigued by this cornucopia of a foodstuff, with which you can make everything from appetizers to desserts. Since beans can be cooked with remarkable speed & minimal resources using a pressure cooker, and since so many people are still pressure cooker-phobic, I also tried to help do some hand-holding about how to use one.
What are your favorite bean recipes to prepare in a pressure cooker and why?
First off, any recipe calling for dried or canned beans can so easily, quickly be done by using a pressure cooker. I've cooked basic beans for just about every recipe in the book using a cooker. I especially like it for the slower-cooking beans, like chick peas, which take forever when cooked conventionally, and just aren't nearly as good out of a can. I just pressured some chick peas a few days ago; I'm always amazed at how superior the texture; the beans are creamy, neither mushy nor mealy (as so often happens with canned beans; while conventionally cooked ones take hours and hours to get there.)
The chili's, too (there are 13 of them in Bean by Bean) are great done with a pressure cooker. Take my Chile Mole, page 170. You do Step 1 directly in the cooker and voila; 2 hours cooking time is compressed into 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you do the spicy saute in a separate pan. When the beans are tender, you stir in the saute and the tomatoes and tomato paste, simmer a few minutes in the pressure cooker pot, then add all remaining ingredients and simmer another 20 minutes or so. Perfect. And beans borracho - drunken beans, delicious in themselves and also the basis for the best refried beans on the planet - I almost always do them in a pressure cooker.
What do you like about pressure cookers?
Speed. That they use far less fuel (because the cooking time is so shortened) than either conventional stove-top simmering or doing the same in a slow-cooker, and are thus much kinder to our limited resources. That you can decide you want beans at the relatively last minute and do so. That they're just easy. And - a non-bean thing - that you can make risotto in under 10 minutes, without going "stir-crazy." Oh yeah: and artichokes and beets: the quickness with which one can fix them in a pressure cooker is so convenient, too.
What tips do you have for someone using a pressure cooker for the first time?
Don't be scared. Contemporary pressure cookers do not have a "jiggle top" and do not make that ominous sound people remember from their great grandmother's days pressure cookers. And they do not explode... you would really have to work at it to get one to explode. I do advise getting a good, heavy, solid one, not a cheapo from a big box store. The investment will pay for itself many, many times over. Virtually the only appliance I use more than my pressure cooker is the food processor. Just butch up and stop being a wuss and get one.
Tell us about your non-profit organization, Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow.
First of all, it's not "mine" - all non-profits belong to everyone. Second of all, my connection to it is historical, not present-day; I helped co-found it with my late husband, Ned Shank. It's in the irresistible little town where we lived, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the site of our former inn, which is, in turn nestled into the Ozark Mountains. Its website is writerscolony.org. Though I have no current involvement with it, it is humming along nicely thanks to the needs it fills, the community, and most of all, its dedicated board. Over 800 writers have stayed there, from 32 different countries.
In addition to cookbooks, you have written numerous books for children. What inspired you to write children's books?
I am a curious and passionate person. Whatever intrigues me, I'm drawn to writing about, or exploring in and through writing. The subject itself is always the inspiration, and that in turn suggests the genre. In addition to books for children, I've also written novels, poetry, and essays. The only place all these blend, really, is in my blog, Nothing is Wasted on the Writer. I also have a food-writing centered blog, Deep Feast: Writing the World through Food ( I teach a works hop by that name, as well.)
What food trends do you see for the future?
An ever-increasing emphasis on sustainability and "clean" sourcing for food. The desire for connection; continued appreciation for farmers markets (and farmers!), and the provenance of ingredients emphasized on menus, in recipes and cookbooks, etc.
The return of the potluck, for reasons both economic and social.
The renaissance and rediscovery of the bean, for reasons of economy, health, versatility/deliciousness, and because they're an easily grown crop for home gardens.
African cooking, with its emphasis on peanut-based sauces, greens, beans, and fiery-hot condiments.
Less meat eaten, with much greater care fo its humane and earth-friendly sourcing.
More vegetarian and vegan meals and options, even for non-vegetarians; more gluten-and wheat-free options.
South Indian cooking, which is less familiar and more healthful than North Indian, and does a lot of delicious things with coconut, legumes and legume-and-rice based fermented batters, vegetables galore, and numerous condiments.
Is Crescent Dragonwagon your real name?
Many people do dumb things as teenagers, but most have the sense not to cast them in concrete and drag them around for the rest of their lives. At sixteen, I got married for the first time. My then-fiance, Mark, and I thought that a woman should not take a man's last name, so we decided to choose a new last name for ourselves. We also discovered that our first names had meaning we didn't agree with (it was the late 1960's, we did not agree with much). "Mark" meant "the warrior"; we were antiwar. My old first name, "Ellen," meant "the queen"; we were anti-authoritarian. He came up with new first names for us: "Crispin", for him, meaning "the curly-headed one"; "Crescent," for me, meaning "the growing" (once erroneously reported in a newspaper interview as meaning "the growth").
Thus we became Crescent and Crispin Dragonwagon. If I'd had any idea how many thousands of times I would have to explain this ridiculous name, I would have chosen something a lot less flashy. But by the time I realized how long the remainder of my days might be, and that I'd be pulling the name around like a ball and chain, I already had a couple of books out and the start of a professional reputation. I am long. long divorced from Crispin Dragonwagon, but am still toting around the name. I certainly can't blame anyone for saying, "Huh?" when they first hear it, or writing me off as a flake. But, A) it's my own fault, and B) once people know me, they don't even notice my weird name anymore. Thankfully.
Decisions you make early in your life affect you differently over time. Looking back, something that probably contributed to my decision was a desire not to get by on my parents' renown or identity. I was a writer; they were both semi-famous writers. I think I felt that if I used their name, I was somehow cheating; riding on their reputations and identities instead of forming my own.
I do respect the pigheadedness and idealism of my sixteen-year-old self, even while I am exasperated with her. Because now, at age 58, I sometimes ask myself, "Wasn't being a professional writer hard enough? Did you have to make it harder on yourself?!"
More Info
Refried Beans (frijoles refritos) Vegetariana
Some people like their refrieds very plain, cooking the beans in plain water and using only bacon fat or lard as the medium for both flavoring and frying. My vegetarian approach is less minimalist: Olive oil is the fat, and various spices and aromatics season. As in several other recipes, I often do the beans for refrieds borracho, or drunken; a can or bottle of beer added to the simmering beans does wonderful things for the finished dish.
Completed refrieds freeze beautifully for up to 3 months, tightly covered. If anything, they're even better thawed and reheated.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound pinto beans, picked over, soaked overnight (see page 352, in the cookbook) drained, and rinsed
- 3 large onions: 1 coarsely chopped, 2 finely chopped
- 1 can or bottle (12 ounces) of beer; no need for fancy stuff - whatever you have on hand will do fine
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup (see Note) decent olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
- Place the beans in a large, heavy Dutch oven or soup pot (or in a pressure cooker, if you prefer). Add the coarsely chopped onion, the beer, and enough water to cover the beans to a depth of at least 1 3/4 inches. Add the chipotle powder (it adds almost no heat, but dues contribute a smokiness usually provided by bacon).
- If using a Dutch oven, bring the beans to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and let cook, covered, until the beans are very soft, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. (In a pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, then lower to medium and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, letting the pressure drop naturally.) As always, cooking times vary depending on the age of the beans, but you want them quite tender, with the skin just beginning to peel open. (At this point, if you like, you can cook the cooked beans to room temperature, then refrigerate them overnight for completion the next day.)
- Drain the beans in a colander, reserving the cooking liquid.
- Heat the olive oil - start out with 2 to 4 tablespoons and hold the rest back for the moment - in a heavy skillet, preferably cat iron, over medium-high heat. Add the finely chopped onions and the cumin seeds, and saute until the onions are translucent and the cumin is aromatic, about 5 minutes.
- Add the strained beans to the skillet, along with about 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. With a wooden spoon and a potato masher, begin stirring and mashing the beans in the pan as you continue to cook them, making a rough, thick puree. Keep adding cooking liquid a little at a time, cooking, stirring and mashing, until the beans, re-thicken and start to almost stick, then add a little more liquid. The evaporation really adds to the flavor and texture of the refrieds.
- Add salt to taste - it'll take quite a bit - and the remaining olive oil if you want additional richness. Serve hot.
Note: While one can make the refried beans with as little as 2 tablespoons of olive oil, they are so much better with more. I'd go for a least 1/4 cup, maybe 1/2 if you're feeling devil-may-care.
Variation
Traditional "Meatist" Refried Beans:
Substitute lard or bacon fat for the olive oil; you may also cook a small chunk of salt pork with the beans. Omit the beer, chipotle powder, and cumin seeds, using only onion in the saute.
