Slow Food versus The Farmers and You and Me, Part 2
There’s a wonderful singer in Italy named Mina. She’s known as the girl with an orchestra in her throat. At one point, Frank Sinatra wanted to take her on tour...
The Rancho Gordo Blog
Cactus Invasion
As usual, I'm late. The place looks like a mess. That little machine there is a brush mower and I finally started, getting ready to plant the bean trials. But...
Slow Food versus The Farmers and You and Me, Part 1
Normally this space is dedicated to posts about soaking beans or pruning cactus. Unfortunately, a recent book by someone supposedly fighting the good fight for pure, good, local food has...
All My Darling Daughters
It seems every deadline I could imagine came up at once, including the manuscript to my book on Heirloom Beans. We've been having a heat wave and I was starting...
Boling Cactus Paddles
The new growth on my biggest cactus plant is screaming, "Eat me!" How can I say no? I've read instructions for boiling cactus and they are all over the map....
A Taste of Tamales by the Bay
As I mentioned earlier, we participated in a really fun event called A Taste of Tamales by the Bay. Joan and I went more to help a good cause but...
More Experiments With Chile Rellenos
Continuing with the stuffed poblano chile experiments, my next filling was wild rice and homemade chorizo. After preparing the chiles, I cooked some of my homemade chorizo and then added...
Cooking Beans for 200
Rancho Gordo agreed to join the Benchmark Institute's event, A Taste of Tamales by the Bay, and that meant beans for at least 200 people. I had no idea how...
Experiments with Chiles Rellenos
Like most of us in California, I grew up eating battered and fried chile rellenos, stuffed mostly with gooey cheese but occasionally with picadillo. I recently found a rare copy...
Rancho Gordo in Gentleman's Quarterly
Trust me, I do see the irony of me being in GQ. But there I am (if you squint real hard) and there are the beans, looking glorious, well prepared...
More Cooking With Clay
With the vague idea of importing bean pots for resale on the website, I've been really going through all my pots and assessing their virtues. I really have never met...