One of the participants in the Maker's Faire, Ysabel, a lady who has only been active in the SCA for a short time, volunteered to do some test cooking for me on the bean front (as I cannot abide beans in any form - insert Mr. Yuck face here). Below is her (excellent) report:
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After reading the recipes and redactions, I chose Benes Yfryed over Drawen Benes (the latter requires grinding the beans, and the result sounds more like a soup). I read through the several redactions of Benes Yfryed in the links you sent me, and found that they were mostly similar. I made my tests with canned beans, because that's what I could get in time for today, but I think we would do better to start with dry beans for the feast. My canned beans came with added salt; we would need to add some salt to the water if starting with dry beans, about 1 tsp per pound of dry beans.
I made two test versions that looked quite different and had different textures, although the ingredients and cooking methods are nearly identical. They were: Version 1 (softer beans) and Version 2 (firmer beans).
Bottom Line: My family voted for Benes Yfryed version 1 with Poudre Douce version PD-2, but all versions tasted good and we can't go wrong here.
-- Test report, Benes Yfryed versions 1 and 2 --
Both versions: Skin some medium/large onions and separate out some garlic cloves. Drop into boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes; turn off fire and let stand for another 10 minutes, or until onions are somewhat translucent and have lost their crispness. Mince onions and garlic. Save the broth for version 1.
Version 1 (softer beans):
(a) Drain and rinse well 1 15-oz. can of fava beans (yield is just over 1 cup of beans). Cook them in fresh water with a piece of bay leaf until about 1/3 of the beans have burst their skins; drain and pick out any loose bean skins.
(b) Add 1/3 cup minced boiled onion and 1 tsp minced boiled garlic to the cooked beans. Fry in a generous amount of olive oil. The soft beans will partly disintegrate and begin to stick to the pan. Add some onion broth (about 1 cup) and stir; mashing the beans with a slotted spoon or potato masher (the latter is much more effective). The result will be resemble rather lumpy refried beans.
Version 2 (firmer beans):
(a) Drain and rinse well 1 15-oz can of fava beans. Do not cook any further; they will be rather firm.
(b) Add 1/3 cup minced boiled onion and 1 tsp minced boiled garlic to the beans. Fry in a moderate amount of olive oil (the firm beans don't absorb as much oil as the soft beans). The beans will remain intact as they fry; no added broth is necessary. Fry for 10 - 15 minutes or until onions have caramelized a bit.
Both versions: Taste and add salt if needed. Sprinkle on poudre douce with a light hand and serve forth.
Results: my family and I ate both bean versions with and without poudre douce (of which we tested two versions, see below). All were very good (if you like beans!), we can't go wrong here. Our consensus was that version 2 looks nicer, but version 1 tastes better (more oil makes it taste richer, and we preferred the texture).
Photos available here: Flickr Link
Neither version is quite faithful to the medieval source: version 1 adds broth, and version 2 has beans that are not "almost bursten". I looked up some other bean recipes from this period and most of them involved mashing or pureeing the beans, so I would guess that version 1 is closer to authenticity, but I must say that's really just a guess.
-- Poudre douce, versions PD-1 and PD-2 --
I made two versions of this from recipes found online. Both contained cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves (no sugar, and I added bay leaf when cooking the v1 beans). PD-1 had more ginger than cinnamon, and PD-2 had more cinnamon than ginger. Both were OK but we preferred PD-1.
PD-1: 3 parts ginger, 1.5 parts cinnamon, 1 part nutmeg, 1 part cloves
PD-2: 4 parts cinnamon, 3 parts ginger, 2 parts nutmeg, 1 part cloves
-- Quantity estimates --
I did not get to test cooking dry fava beans. From experience with other beans and online research, I estimate that 1 lb of dry favas will yield 4 to 6 cups of cooked favas (let's say 5 cups). So we will need 10 lbs of dry fava beans to make 50 cups of cooked beans.
10 lbs dry fava beans
10 large Spanish onions or 20 medium/large yellow onions (like the ones that come by the bag)
2 heads of garlic
1 quart olive oil
1 cup of poudre douce mixture
5 - 10 bay leaves
salt to taste
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