Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World's Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes

If you're vegan, looking for inspiration, and love all kinds of legumes, this is for you. Worth every penny. Going to try growing my own beans this year, just so I can try some of the recipes. If you are based in Europe or UK, there are quite a few exotic ingredients,(coconut aminos, peppers in adobe, dried ancho chillies, etc.), but many of these can be found in the bigger supermarkets now, health food shops, or on Amazon. There is a vital page in the first chapter that shows the categories of beans, and their substitutions. If you live in the US, it will be a lot easier to get many of the ingredients, I think. Still a brilliant book, from a brilliant writer, who generously credits many other chefs when he uses their recipes for inspiration.

Just received this book today and had to write a review immediately. Its gorgeous!Joe Yonan's book Cool Beans has a recommendation by Steve Sando from Rancho Gordo as "just plain inspiring" and that was good enough for me! I have Steves books too and only purchase my beans from Rancho Gordo or from my local farmers market after repeatedly having issues with old, dry, hard beans in stores (even from Whole Foods) I have been cooking a lot of beans lately trying to amp up my plant protien and wind back on the meat. Even though I had a few bean cookbooks I purchased this one as soon as I saw it.I never pay full price for my books. Well, when I say never I actually mean occasionally. When I just can't wait for the price to drop on Amazon. But I am a cheapskate and I hate paying full price for anything but this book was one of those books I had to buy immediately.So here I am, newly minted copy in hand, excitedly deciding what to make first.Chapter list is as follows:-Dips and Snacks-Salads-Soups, Stews and Soupy things-Burgers, Sandwiches, wraps, tacos and a pizza-Casseroles, pasta, rice and hearty main courses-drinks and desserts-condiments and other pantry recipesLets look at some of the recipes.....-Dips 22 recipes including:harissa carrot and white bean dipspicy ethiopian red lentil dipblack bean sopescorn hummus with spicy corn relishecuadorian lupini bean ceviche (see pic)-Salads 14 recipes including:red gem salad with green curry goddess and crispy lentilslady cream pea, sweet potato and charred okra saladwinter salad with cranberry beans, squash and pomegranate (see pic)-Soup etc 28 recipes including:georgian kidney bean stew with corn flatbreads and pickled cabbagesmoky black bean and plantain chilired lentil ful with sumac roastedcauliflower (see pic)-Burgers etc 17 recipes including:chickpea tarragon sandwichesblack bean chipotle falafel burgersyellow bean and spinach dosas (see pic)-Casseroles etc 26 recipes including:orecchiette with borlotti beans, bitter greens and lemony breadcrumbsTofu Migas with black beans and nopalescrispy hoppin john with smoked tofu-Drinks and desserts (yes, really!)13 recipes including:Plantain, black sesame and white bean quick breadchocolate, red bean and rose brownies (see pic)red bean icecream (see pic)salty margarita sour with aquafaba-Condiments etc 6 recipes including:chickpea aiolicoconut cashew yoghurtherb marinated tofu fetaJoe Yonan is the food editor at the Washington Post. In Cool Beans he has provided us with global vegetarian bean inspiration. Many of you, like myself are either cutting back on meat or trying to broaden an already meatless diet and are looking at ways to increase our intake of plant protein. For those of us, this book is a must have! With loads of gorgeous full page photographs and 125 unique and delicious sounding recipes I am feeling pretty inspired. Please check back. I will update this review as I cook from this book.A little about me:I have been known to taste test 10 different soy sauces in one sitting (not sure I want to repeat that experiment)I recently purchased 9 different lemon zesters just to determine which one was best (you can view the results on my profile page)I enjoy writing reviews and this hobby of mine gives me an outlet to share my culinary explorations.If this review has been helpful to you would you please click the helpful button? I like to think that my reviews help filter out the crap for other like-minded buyers who are hunting for the same products that I am :)It makes my day to see that my kitchen insanity helped a fellow customer.You might also like to visit my profile page and check out some of my other ingredient and recipe book and kitchen tool reviews and idea lists. You can also click to follow me on my profile page to be notified when I post a new review.Happy cooking (and eating)

I have only had this book for a short time but already love it. I have made 5 recipes so far from this and loved each of them. The book is well written and the steps are easy to follow. The ingredients are easy to find and mostly cupboard staples. I love that he offers a wide variety of possible beans you could use for most recipes if you have trouble finding some of them. I really love that he makes it easy to use canned beans in his recipes. I highly recommend this book and I'm not a vegetarian!

I ordered this cookbook because I didn't know much about cooking beans. I have so far made 3 of the recipes which taste great. It's worth it for the Cuban black beans with orange alone. I now see that when the author recommends "use water to cover" he means "barely cover." Two dishes have turned out more stew-like than intended because I don't cut down on the water enough. However, taste is always superb. And all other instructions clear.Highly recommend

I purchased this book because I'm vegetarian and need to get more beans and pulses into my diet. While the recipes in this book are thought-provoking, they're totally impractical to cook; either because there's lots of (not necessarily available) ingredients, because they require expensive equipment and pots, or because they take hours and hours to prepare. As such I would consider this book perhaps of interest for people who do not work or study, or whose job involves cooking. I do not think it is practical for anybody else. Very disappointed.