Epic Failure

Ironically, the first "real post" I am making is about a total disaster. But I promised I'd be honest, so, unfortunately I am held accountable. A brief piece of background - Ben is extremely frugal (in case you didn't know). We are currently both students, living off of a measly stipend of $1,000/month, plus whatever loans he has taken out for medical school. That being said, we have allotted $200/month for groceries which, for someone who likes to buy fresh fruits/veggies and experiment in the kitchen (me), it can be a tight squeeze, but is definitely manageable. Still, a meal the two of us eat quite frequently is rice and beans. Now, one can only eat rice and beans for so long without needing to spice it up (at least I need to... Ben is low maintenance, remember...) Last night I attempted to spice it up; key word: attempted.

In the cookbook I am currently obsessed with (see sidebar) - Mad Hungry - she gives a recipe for New Orleans style red beans and rice that look SO good. Plus, I was in New Orleans twice last year and completely understand how incredible they taste (yes, rice and BEANS, people!) So I thought, this doesn't look too hard, I'll give it a try.

Typically when I make beans, I make an entire pound of dried beans. First, I soak them all night, then I cook them in the crockpot for an entire day (cooked with a bay leaf). I'll fry up some sofrito (onion, garlic and pepper sauteed in olive oil) and add it to the beans with loads of salt - more than you'd think - and voila! This specific recipe called for dried beans but instead of using a crockpot, she had you cook them on the stove. Boiling for an hour with some spices, the recipe then calls for bacon and thyme and another 30-60 minutes simmering on the stovetop.

After spending about three hours preparing this meal, I was getting a bit nervous about the outcome. The picture in the cookbook made the sauce look thick and creamy, going well over a side of simple rice. My sauce was the consistency of water, colored with a strange mahogany color. I served it up anyway and Ben was encouraging as I scooped him a heaping portion. We took about three bites before I exclaimed, "this is awful!" Ben nodded and I asked him, "how long would you have kept eating?" "As long as I had to" was his response. If I wasn't so furious at the outcome of the beans, his comment would have melted me.

Hypothesized errors:

1. ancient red beans. Ben's mom recently gave us approximately 13 pounds of beans. No joke. A hefty 10 pounder and three individual bags. We're not sure how old they are... Ben's guessing at least 4 years old. At that age, we should have cooked the beans a lot longer, if at all.

2. thyme overdose. The whole dish tasted like thyme and thyme alone; I'm not sure if I got the ratio wrong (I swear I followed the recipe) or what, but you literally couldn't taste anything else.

Though I'm a bit wounded from this attempt, I am sure I will be making beans and rice again soon. Stay tuned for a hopeful improvement...