Why are they called navy beans?
Why are they called navy beans?
Navy beans are small and oval and cook relatively quickly (which, as Aliza Green notes in The Bean Bible, has made them popular with commercial baked bean manufacturers).
Known as Boston beans, the white coco, pea beans or alubias chicas, navy beans are perfect for dishes that don't need the full bean shape to shine: purées, soups, stews and baked beans.
Navy beans get their name because of their role as a staple food for the U.S. Navy. The beans were first mixed with molasses and canned in 1875; Heinz introduced canned beans with tomato sauce in 1895.
A canapé is just a French catch-all name for small and pretty finger foods, ideally served with drinks before a meal or at a cocktail party, and able to be swallowed in less than two bites.
Technically, a canapé is composed of a bread, puffed pastry (as in the vol-au-vent) or pancake (as in blini) base, with some kind of spread (butter, sour cream, tarama, flavored cream cheese, you name it), a main ingredient, and a little garnish such as herb sprigs, caviar, or truffles.
A canapé is usually salty, made from puffed pastry or thinly sliced white bread cut into decorative shapes and then topped with a spread that is often piped on using a pastry bag for maximum glamour before being garnished.
Cooking dried beans is one of the easiest and most rewarding kitchen tasks. Canned beans are convenient but are usually loaded with salt, making home-cooked beans healthier. And while it's true that it takes longer to cook beans than to open a can, cooking beans requires only about 5 minutes of active time.
You can soak beans overnight in cold water or soak them for an hour in boiling water if you're pressed for time. Legumes such as lentils and split peas do not need to be soaked at all before cooking, just quickly rinsed to clean off any dust.
Otherwise, any bean that would ordinarily need to be soaked overnight can get the quick-soak treatment, including lima beans, chickpeas, black beans, white beans, red beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans, navy beans, kidney beans, fava beans, pigeon peas and mung beans.
To cook beans, cover them with water and simmer slowly for about 1 1/2 hours, or until cooked. Adding cured pork or aromatics like bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stems and vegetables such as carrots and onions to the cooking liquid adds flavor and character to a pot of beans.
