Week 3: Winning the Black Bean Lottery

Your Bean Fact of the Week

It was late 1842. Admittedly, if you were to ask me about what episodes of American history I do not remember very well or understand very well, near the top of this list would be all of the various nonsenses happening between the US, Mexico, and Texas before the Civil War, particularly before the Mexican-American War. I could tell you why this was important to the Civil War, I could tell you why it was happening, and I remembered the Alamo (was a place that existed and not much more). But who did what to whom was Texas’s business and not mine.

But here we are in 1842 and 700 Texans set off for San Antonio to punish the Mexicans for raids in Texas. This, ultimately, did not go well, but when ordered to retreat 350 soldiers declined orders and got themselves ambushed and 243 were taken prisoner to be marched toward Mexico City. Santa Anna was pissed by their Texan audacity and ordered them all executed before they got very far at all. The governor and general of the state of Coahuila, where the Texans had so far been marched, refused. Eventually, with the intercession of the US and Great Britain, everyone came to a compromise. One in every ten would be killed, also known as a good old-fashioned decimation.¹

And here is where the beans come in. 159 white beans and 17 black beans were placed in a pot. The men were blindfolded and, in alphabetical order, drew beans, hoping for a navy bean rather than a black turtle bean. Those who got their navy beans and survived continued the march to a Mexico City prison. Apparently one guy, James L. Shepherd, survived being shot by playing dead only to be recognized in town three days later and killed. This Black Bean Episode, or lottery, came to take on a mythical national element in Texan culture as is represented by the Frederic Remingon painting below and this Cameron, Texas school teacher/bass player and her musical trio. They can be booked for your company picnics.

Frederic Remington, The Mier Expedition: The Drawing of the Black Bean (Prisoners Drawing Their Beans),1896. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Recipes

1. Black beans dumped on a Sweet Potato:

   No actual recipe here, but props to my buddy Marianna for this tip. Roast a sweet potato. Mash the innards with a fork. Dump black beans on top. Add a fried egg. Eat. I actually didn’t do the egg, but instead covered it with Chihuahua Cheese and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Super tasty, super low effort. Beans used: 1 cup.

2. 5-Minute Black Bean Dip:

   I don’t know what I did wrong here, but end result was not dip texture. Was hoping to have something to paste over tostadas, but it was way too liquidy. I ended up throwing it on the stove for 15-20 minutes which helped, but I was still not happy with the end result. Refrigeration did help with the texture ultimately. But for the amount of beans I threw at this thing I was disappointed. Beans used: 3 cups.

3. Blueberry Bean Smoothie:

   

   Actually, this wasn’t bad. But I had to wait until Adam wasn’t home to try it because it was a bean too far for him. I did raw blueberries and frozen banana and upped the sweetness very slightly. No regrets. I’d do it again. Beans used: 1/2 cup.

1. The original Roman decimation was carried out by fellow soldiers. The Wikipedia article on decimation is actually a pretty interesting read.