Mogette de Vendée (White beans) - Testing

https://maison-solidaire-de-lalimentation.fr/la-vraie-recette-de-mogette-de-vendee-avec-jambon/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

1 - Ok. So, 'mogette' is actually the name of a white bean from the Vendée area in France. I don't have any but I do have Cannellini beans, so I will substitute. Apparently the key is to cook the beans with all the fixings at a very low temperature. I'm tempted to simply slow-cook the whole thing. LATER: I liked it! I think Ben found them to be a bit dull, but I thought they were really flavorful. I did not pair them well, at all, with other side dishes (Failed Rutabaga gratin dish, didn't have any bread to go with). I'll likely use the leftovers to make the frisee pasta, but I would also like to make them again with appropriate accompaniments. This may require looking up how the French tend to eat them.

2 - I have discovered how to eat them! I've already matched it with a whole plate, I suppose it could be considered a 'table d'hote'. I'm starting to include the chemistry of a recipe to help me understand why things are done the way they are.

The key to mogettes is low, steady heat and patience. The beans should be soft all the way through — yielding under pressure — without losing their shape.

500g dried mogettes de Vendée (or cannellini as a substitute)

1 onion, studded with 2 cloves¹

2 carrots, sliced into rounds

1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay, parsley)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt and pepper

1. The night before, soak the beans. Cover generously with cold water and leave for a minimum of 12 hours.² 
2. Drain and rinse, then place in a large pot. Cover with fresh cold water. Add the clove-studded onion, carrot rounds, crushed garlic, and bouquet garni. Do not add salt yet — see step 4.
3. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a gentle simmer.³ Cover and cook for 1 to 1.5 hours, checking regularly.⁴ 
4. Salt in the last 15 minutes. Add salt and taste for seasoning.⁵
5. Check for doneness by pressing a bean between your fingers. It should be completely tender all the way through — soft but not disintegrating. This tactile check is more reliable than the clock.
6.  Drain the beans, reserving a little of the cooking broth.
7. To serve, arrange in a dish, spoon over some of the reserved broth, finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a few turns of black pepper, and a few drops of wine vinegar if desired. Traditionally served with slices of ham.

1. ---

   Notes

   ↑1 Note on the cloves: Two cloves is the right number. Cloves contain eugenol, an aromatic compound that is also a mild inhibitor of the enzymes that break down pectin in bean skins. More than two or three cloves risks slowing the softening of your beans.

2. ↑2 Soaking rehydrates the beans and leaches out some of the oligosaccharides responsible for digestive discomfort. It also reduces cooking time significantly.

3. ↑3 A hard rolling boil agitates the beans physically, breaks their skins, and produces a cloudy, starchy broth with unevenly cooked beans — mushy outside, firm inside. A gentle simmer keeps them intact and cooks them evenly.

4. ↑4 Note on older beans: Dried beans that have been sitting for over a year may take closer to 2 hours. There is no way to know the age of your beans from the package. If they are still firm at 1.5 hours, simply keep going.

5. ↑5 The traditional instruction to delay salting is sound, though the reason is more nuanced than commonly stated. Salt itself does not toughen bean skins — in fact, brining beans in salted water before cooking can improve their texture. The real culprits are calcium and magnesium ions present in hard water, which bind to pectin in the bean skins and resist softening. Salt helps displace those ions. However, delaying salt until late in cooking remains a safe and reliable practice regardless of your water hardness.

500g de mogettes de Vendée sèches (white beans)

1 oignon piqué de 2 clous de girofle

2 carottes

1 bouquet garni (thym, laurier, persil)

2 gousses d’ail

Sel et poivre du moulin

1. La veille, mettez les mogettes dans un grand saladier et couvrez-les largement d’eau froide. Laissez tremper pendant 12 heures minimum. 
2. Le lendemain, égouttez et rincez; placez-les dans une grande casserole et couvrez-les d’eau froide. Ajoutez l’oignon piqué, les carottes coupées en rondelles, l’ail écrasé et le bouquet garni. 
3. Portez à ébullition, puis baissez le feu et laissez mijoter à couvert pendant environ 45 minutes à 1 heure. Vérifiez régulièrement la cuisson en écrasant une mogette entre vos doigts – elle doit être tendre mais pas en purée. Environ 15 minutes avant la fin de la cuisson, salez l’eau (jamais avant, car le sel durcit les légumineuses).
4. Une fois les mogettes cuites, égouttez-les en conservant un peu de bouillon de cuisson. Disposez-les dans un plat de service, arrosez-les d’un filet d’huile d’olive. Servez immédiatement, bien chaud, avec quelques tours de moulin à poivre.
5. Habituellement servit avec des tranches de jambon.