Apart from having received endorsements from friends whose opinions about food -- and life in general -- I hold in high regard, I really like Bittman's no-bullshit approach. A comparison of how he and Deborah Madison discuss the unintended consequences of bean consumption will show you what I mean. In a passage titled, "Making sure that beans are pleasant to eat," Madison writes [emphasis added]:
"[...] people react differently to legumes -- some with great sensitivity and others with apparently not, so in the end this is something each person has to work out."Pleasant to eat? React differently? Deb, this isn't Victorian-era England, so just relax. No one is saying that you have to say "fart," but there are plenty of tasteful euphemisms you can use. Just listen to how Bittman, in a passage titled, "Plain talk about beans and gas," deals with this issue:
"Okay, beans give many people gas..."Was that so hard? Are my sensibilities offended? No and no.
The first recipe I made out of this book was incidentally gas-inducing Beans and Greens -- I used navy beans and kale for this one. Bittman suggests pouring the finished product into a baking dish, covering it with bread crumbs and broiling, which is what I did, and it turned out great.
One suggestion that Bittman forgets to mention: if you plan to make a Beans and Greens gratin, go easy on the water while you're cooking the beans. If you use too much water (like I did), you can boil some of it off (but don't boil it too long or your beans will turn into mush).
Another option if you've overdone it with the water is to pour the beans and greens into a strainer, which will leave you with a thin white bean soup. (Haven't decide yet whether I'm going to eat this).
