BACK TO ALL RECIPES

Fireplace Beans (Beans al Fiasco)

Photo: Peter Hoffman

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED June 10, 2024

Cooking in the fireplace doesn’t require any fancy equipment. This recipe can be done with a mason jar in any living room fireplace. Lacking a fireplace or a campfire, the beans can be cooked in a covered pot but it is less dramatic and magical. The slow, even cooking produces wonderfully unctuous and flavorful beans. It is fun to watch them cooking before your eyes. — Peter Hoffman

 

The following may contain affiliate links for which we earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting us in this way!

This method depends on utilizing the heat from a mature but not roaring fire. Traditionally this is done in a wine bottle (fiasco in Italian) but using a Mason jar dispenses with the issue of getting the beans out of the narrow neck of a bottle. Serve with grilled meat and wilted greens. I prefer to use Sorana beans but scarlet runners, cannellini, or Jacob’s cattle varieties will all make a great pot of beans. Try to avoid the white navy bean as it is an inferior bean in flavor and texture. — Peter Hoffman

Print

Fireplace Beans (Beans al Fiasco)

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes 4 side servings 1x

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (about 185 g) dried beans, soaked overnight

  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled

  • 1 (5-inch/12 cm) sprig rosemary

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) good olive oil

Instructions

  1. Combine the beans, garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, pepper, salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) water in a (1-quart/960 ml) Mason jar. Place the lid loosely on top—steam needs to be able to escape during the cooking process. Set in the hearth of the fireplace 8 to10 inches (20 to 25 cm) from the active fire. Feel with your hands that this distance is hot but not unbearably so. Rotate the jar every 15 minutes for the first hour to ensure even cooking. You will see the beans begin to simmer. After 2 hours check the beans to see if all the liquid has been absorbed. Taste them to see if the beans are fully cooked. Add more water if necessary to complete the cooking. When the beans are tender, they can be served immediately or allowed to simmer ever so slowly in the fireplace as the fire dies down. Long, slow cooking produces a caramelization of the bean against the jar walls that is delicious and a texture that is more like a rough purée than brothy beans.

— Recipe courtesy Peter Hoffman

Log in, or become a member today.

Join in: enjoy 7 days free, plus 40% off your first year with access to 1,000+ highly vetted recipes from the How To Cook Everything series and beyond, essays from Mark, and original pieces from our contributors.

Join annually and save 40%
Log in to your account

GetBetterFasterHealthierSmarterTastier

in the Kitchen

Through our (more than a thousand, and growing) highly vetted recipes from the How to Cook Everything series, original food essays and reporting, thoughtful podcast conversations and introductions to new and responsible food products, we aim to showcase what’s possible, from farm to fork, and power a growing movement that encourages people to think about food not as a commodity, but as central to our health and happiness.

Start your free trial

We hope you join us on this journey. We’d love to have you as a part of the Bittman community. As a member, you'll have access to:

  • New recipes every week
  • 1000s of recipes from How to Cook Everything and beyond
  • First access to in-person events with Mark and Kate
  • Exclusive discounts from our favorite brands
  • Q&As with Mark and the team

 

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Join over 105,000 passionate individuals who receive our weekly emails. It’s 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime. Plus, we’ll email you a sampling of what premium members receive on a weekly basis.