NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the founder of the acclaimed Rancho Gordo bean company, an authoritative guide to 50 bean varieties and how to cook with them, featuring 100 classic and modern recipes. “ The Bean Book is the magnum opus from the KING of heirloom beans!”—Ted Allen, host of Food Network’s Chopped “An absolute must-have for anyone who believes that beans can be every bit as magical as a spoonful of caviar.”—Chef José Andrés Learn how easy it is to cook beans from scratch with the king of beans. Rancho Gordo beans, the legumes with a cult following and Bean Club waiting list more than 20,000 names long, brought attention to heirloom bean varieties through chefs like Thomas Keller and Marcella Hazan. Founder and owner Steve Sando, with twenty-five years’ experience in growing, sourcing, and cooking with beans, is the perfect home cook to present classic recipes as well as new combinations for all kinds of eaters. With more than 100 recipes, there are vegan and vegetarian dishes like Fennel, Potato, and White Bean Soup with Saffron and Pizza Beans as well as full-on meat-lovers’ meals like Napa Valley Cassoulet , Southwestern Chile con Carne , and Clay-Baked Pacific Cod Gratin with Onions and White Beans . The Bean Book includes instructions for cooking beans using multiple methods, then transforming those cooked beans into satisfying dips, soups, salads, mains, sides, and desserts. There is nobody better than the man behind Rancho Gordo to share recipes, tips, and historical background in a beautifully photographed, comprehensive collection, sure to be a classic. “Steve Sando has spent two decades helping us all eat better beans and understand what makes them great. It’s a noble mission, and one which he continues in The Bean Book —an absolute must-have for anyone who believes that beans can be every bit as magical as a spoonful of caviar.” —Chef José Andrés “If you think beans are boring, just look at the recipes in The Bean Book . Never had I really tasted the difference that an heirloom variety makes until I tasted Rancho Gordo beans. I won’t cook anything else. When your mouth starts watering, start cooking since there’s no need to soak them. Steve Sando’s integrity and dedication to this humble ingredient is admirable and appreciated.” —Tanya Holland, chef and author of Tanya Holland’s California Soul “The fervid bean advocacy of Steve Sando and Rancho Gordo has made the beans in our pots more varied and flavorful. If only all advocacy were this delicious. The only downside to The Bean Book is that I foresee procuring even more varieties than I have space for in my already bean-engorged pantry.” —Evan Kleiman, chef, author, and host of KCRW’s Good Food “ The Bean Book is the magnum opus from the KING of heirloom beans! The gorgeous photography of these brilliantly colorful legumes would be reason enough to want this book, but the real story is this humble food’s diversity in flavor, texture, and culinary possibility. Wait until you try the recipes!” —Ted Allen, host of Food Network’s Chopped Steve Sando is the founder of Rancho Gordo, a specialty food company that grows and sources heirloom produce, seeds, and beans. He has been featured in The New Yorker , the New York Times , Saveur, O Magazine, CBS Sunday Morning, and From the Source on the Magnolia Network. Julia Newberry is the general manager of Rancho Gordo and co-author of The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen and The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Guide . Introduction Steve’s Story If your experience with beans started with red kidney beans from a can at a lonely salad bar in a dark, old-school pizzeria, it’s easy to understand your confusion about the recent popularity of beans. I remember—not so fondly—bowls of funky red kidneys, white navys, and mediocre garbanzos waiting to be paired with too-thick slices of cucumber, wilted lettuce, and over-seasoned and yet somehow bland “Italian” dressing. Until recently, poor old beans hadn’t received a lot of love in the United States. It was thought by many that they were to be reserved for hard times, were hard to digest, required hours of painstaking preparation, and were better suited to old hippies who lived on communes. They certainly weren’t part of the mainstream American diet, and many of us didn’t give them a second thought, except for childish chants and poems about their non-culinary powers. Things slowly started to change. Like heirloom tomatoes, mostly forgotten varieties of beans that had thrived under the care of experienced home gardeners started to be grown commercially and were available at a lucky few farmers’ markets. Chefs embraced them and the crowds went along. Home cooks who only knew beans from cans started playing with heirloom and new-crop beans—and instead of being neglected, the beans were starting to be celebrated. It turns out that standard commodity supermarket beans are fine, but as with tomatoes, corn,