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Hi,

On a recent Saturday, under the railroad bridge at 79th and Stoney Island near the Skyway entrance, were Nation of Islam volunteers distributing literature. One of my friends noticed they were also delivering something looking like a pie to cars. We all guessed the same thing: could this be a bean pie? Working fast against time and a traffic light change, I opened the window while shouting, "Are those bean pies you're selling?" "Yes." "How much?" "Seven dollars." "I'll buy one!" After several years of discussion of this very pie, it was like winning the lottery to buy this pie on the street.



I am not going to steal anyone's thunder, much of what I know about bean pie was learned from Rene G and through various contacts we made last year in preparation for Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance symposium on Sweets. To get the straight story from Rene G, you can listen to his presentation "Bean Pie: Iconic African-American-Islamic dessert" at Chicago Amplified program of Chicago Public Radio. If you listen further, Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie Company presents "From Abundance to Desperation—Pies of Indiana"; and I conclude the panel with my presentation "Reclaiming the Pecan’s Roots."

Bean pies are usually made of navy beans seasoned with spices that evoke a pumpkin pie. The canned or cooked fresh navy beans are typically processed in a blender along with eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, butter, spices and sometimes vanilla. There are variations of this recipe where pinto beans are used. Only one recipe of bean pie made with navy bean flour, I ground the beans to a powder in a coffee grinder, poured into boiling water. The bean flour immediately transformed into thick paste upon hitting the water.

A bean pie made with pinto beans


This is a cross section of pie made by Supreme Bean (the fuzzy dark figure is my cat, but it was the best picture of the group)


Last year prior to the symposium, finding a commercial source for bean pies was almost futile effort. We spent a Sunday driving around to bakeries known to offer bean pies to find they had gone out of business. I was on the cusp of making the pies myself, when Rene G located a source for bean pies. The Nation of Islam's bakery had recently reopened after having been closed for several years. It is the same source we bought from recently, though the label changed.



Supreme Bean Pie
7351 South Stoney Island
Chicago, IL 60649

In this effort to locate a bean pie, a bakery owner advised bean pies are often available at Kwanzaa festivals, if you can't otherwise find one.

One day, Rene G will provide additional information on this unique pie, meanwhile there is his presentation to listen to.

Regards,

_________________
Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

So how were the pies?

Was the one you made very different from the Supreme Bean Pie?

Hi,

The Supreme Bean Pie was very smooth with a nice texture on the upper layer and creamy underneath. It was far smoother than mine that might be attributed to not processing long enough in the blender.

I made a bean pie for a talk in February, it was not as golden colored as SupremeBean, if anything mine looked pasty. One taster demanded to know what it was before eating, which took some of the fun away. Once they knew it was bean, people taste it more guardedly. If they tasted it with abandon guessing it was pumpkin or some other squash and later learn it is bean, then they might have been more delighted.

The heaviest bean pie was made of bean flour. When I make recipes that go into new areas, I typically make them exactly to the recipe's directions. I made it over a year ago, but I recall nobody was racing to finish it.

Regards,

_________________
Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

I’m sure that I’m not the only one who noticed reverence in the pie’s brand name, Supreme Bean, Or is that Supreme Bein’? And why should pies not be reverent? If beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, why should pie not turn our minds toward spiritual contemplation?



Here’s a picture of Rene G, presenting on Bean Pies at the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance Symposium on Sweets last April.



And here are some bean pies spotted at the Lexington Market in Baltimore this spring.

_________________
Man : I can't understand how a poet like you can eat that stuff.
T. S. Eliot: Ah, but you're not a poet.

My first and only experience with bean pie was the Pinto Bean Pie at Sunglow Restaurant in Bicknell, UT.

http://thewandererschuckandkate.blogspo ... roken.html

They offer a sampler platter with their bean pie, sweet pickle pie, oatmeal pie, and lemon pie. WOW! What a great breakfast.

HI,

CAn you tell us more about sweet pickle pie and oatmeal pie?

Regards,

_________________
Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

The sweet pickle pie tasted a bit like a pumpkin pie, You could taste the sweetness of the pickle but it was offset a bit by the pie seasonings. Personally, of the four pies, it was my least favorite.

Here is a recipe for the sweet pickle pie:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:S ... Pickle_Pie

And a pir crust recipe:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recip ... _id=600626


The pinto bean pie was made of pureed beans with a nice coconut topping. It really did not have a stong bean taste as you might expect.

I remember very little about the oatmeal pie except that it was the best of the four pies.

I wish I could help you more.

The reach of the Supreme Bein' extends to Baltimore. Here, also at the Lexington Market, are more bean pies, these made by Supreme Bakery ("Home of the Original Bean Pie"). Note the first ingredient: Love.

I notice that the final ingredient listed is "Fruit Flavor" and the list includes strawberry and other flavors that don't mesh particularly well with the bean and spice flavors of the typical bean pie. Has anyone run across a fruit-flavored bean pie? Sometimes in an ingredient statement there is a blanket ingredient list to cover all the things that might find their way into a mass-produced product. However, this does not strike me as a likely explanation here.

As for sweet pickle pie, the recipe may not call for Love, but it certainly calls for Faith from those devout enough to give it a try. I think I'd have to get a pretty clear divine directive to order sweet pickle pie for dessert.

_________________
Man : I can't understand how a poet like you can eat that stuff.
T. S. Eliot: Ah, but you're not a poet.

This has been a busy day for me in the kitchen. I noticed this discussion for the first time last week, and what I read prompted me to gather the ingredients to make a couple of the Navy Bean Pies. I whipped-up a batch of coconut saffron ice cream and because the oven was on and at the right temperature after finishing the pies, I made some macaroons.





After searching the internet for navy bean pie recipes I selected one posted at http://www.recipezaar.com - Navy Bean Pie (Muslim) - Recipe #184372. Though I've never tasted the bean pie before now, I wanted to replicate the Supreme pies . . . that was the goal. My only deviation from the recipe was when I added some butter - a "tip" I saw posted in reader comments or at another recipe site.







I'm pleased with the outcome, though I have no prior experience eating/preparing such pies. The consistency is smooth and the seasonings there without being strong - and I doubt anyone not knowing navy beans were the principal ingredient would guess they're there.

I'm taking one of the pies into the office for co-workers and I expect some feedback - good or bad. Thanks to those of you who wrote previously which prompted me to undertake today's exercise.

The macaroons turned-out excellently, and the coconut/saffron ice cream is unique, rich and very different from many of the ice creams I've made previously.

Well, the verdict is in: my co-workers weren't in an experimenting mood today, and, for the most part they avoided the pie. They'd circle the pie giving it a suspicious eye . . . then leave the room (small kitchen in the office) empty handed. 1/2 a pie was all that was eaten by 2:30 p.m., compared to 100% of most other pie's (and cakes) I bring into the office and which disappear by 9:30 a.m. The people who did try the pie said they liked it, but I could see on their faces, and hear in their carefully chosen words it's not something they'd make on their own . . . or purchase when out and about. Though, had I not taped a note to the pie plate explaining what it was, I suspect the pie would have been consumed quickly.

I have witnessed similar reactions. I did a talk in February where the pie tasting was in advance of the talk. One lady demanded to know the ingredients in advance, I tried to defer suggesting an explanation in my talk. Once the beans were spilled on what it was, there was less enthusiasm.

We have to remember that members of the tribe are far more willing to try unique foods than the remaining 80% of the population.

Regards,

_________________
Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

tatterdemalion and I ran across this dessert at an Azorean Portuguese restaurant, Tabacaria Acoreana, in Fall River, MA. It was billed as "Bean Pudding, a traditional dessert". In comparison to the Supreme Bean Pie, it had no discernable spices, just beans, sugar, egg and possibly vanilla. The texture was interesting, similar to that of pecan pie without the pecans. It had very tiny pieces of bean skin, which gave the effect of very finely chopped coconut.



I wonder what, if any, connection there is between this dessert and the African-American bean pie, but I will leave that for Rene G to sort out.

_________________
Man : I can't understand how a poet like you can eat that stuff.
T. S. Eliot: Ah, but you're not a poet.

Hi,

In response to an e-mail request, I have tried several recipes for bean pie.




I am fairly certain I made the pie pictured below with the second recipe, which has baking powder in it. I used pinto beans instead of navy beans, which is a known substitute. The crust formed on this pie might be assisted by the baking powder, plus baking until it was browned/carmelized a bit. Please note on all these bean recipes, process them in the blender longer than you might overwise think is needed. The longer the smoother, because I stopped when I thought it was blended and later thought I should have blended it a bit smoother. If I made bean pies on a regular basis, I might be able to be more precise, but I don't.



A link to a bean pie variant with coconut and pecans, which would not be acceptable because Nation of Islam discourages eatings nuts and coconut: Pinto bean pie.

In Howard Paige's book Aspects of African American Foodways, he has an unusual bean pie recipe made with bean flour. The bean powder added to boiling water instantly thickens to a heavy paste. The one time I prepared this recipe, I ground black eyed peas in my coffee grinder to avoid the thankless effort of finding genuine bean flour. This pie as I recall was very dense texture.

In company where bean pies are unknown, I find it best not to advise what it is until they tried it. People just don't associate beans with dessert in our culture, so they get all tentative going into unchartered territory.

Regards,

_________________
Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast