While cooking can be about community and resistance, it can also be entirely personal. My wife Mallory and I love to cook, and she especially loves beans. I know that I can entice her to a recipe if it features beans, and Joe Yonan’s cookbook is the early-holiday gift I’m giving us this year.
Yonan is the dining and food editor for The Washington Post, and his cookbook is chock-full of 125 bean recipes. His recipes remind us that something as humble as a chickpea or lentil or black bean can be the center and star of any dish. I spent an afternoon debating with Mal about whether we should soak some beans we’re making after reading his introduction and side-column “To Soak or Not To Soak”. And don’t get us started on whether to add salt to the soaking water! We’ve been pouring over the recipes as we start planning for holiday meals, and we’re excited to try the Georgian-Style Bean-Stuffed Bread (Khachapuri), the Cannellini Cannelloni, and the Chocolate, Red Bean, and Rose Brownies. Yes, it’s about the food, but it’s also about spending time with Mal, curled up around a book, then working side-by-side in the kitchen to create a memorable meal. And I hope you can find time to do the same: indulge in what you and your loved ones enjoy the most.
(Check back later, and I’ll let you know which recipes have been our favorites.)
This review first appeared in the December 2024 print edition of Out in Wichita. Click here to see the review in print.
shelly. walston. writes. 