Oven Jackson Wonder Beans

2026-10-26 · Serves 6

Ingredients

Method

  1. Rinse and sort the beans. Soak them overnight in plenty of water, then drain. Heat the oven to 300°F.
  2. Melt the bacon fat in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
  3. Strip the ribs from the collards and mince them small. Add them and cook until soft. Mince the celery small and add it. Do the same with the carrots. Prep each one while the last one cooks.
  4. Mince the garlic and add it. Add the chiles, bean seasoning, and bay leaves. Cook 1 minute.
  5. Add the beans and water to cover by 1 inch. Add the shiitake and kombu. On the stove, bring it almost to a boil. Do not let it boil hard. Cover and move to the oven.
  6. After 30 minutes, pull out the kombu.
  7. Bake until the beans are tender, 1½–2 hours total. About halfway, season with salt and a pinch of MSG.
  8. Pull out the chiles, bay leaves, and shiitake. Chop the shiitake and stir them back in. Season again with salt and MSG to taste.
  9. Let the pot rest off the heat 15 minutes. Serve warm.

At a Glance

Heat the oven to 300°F
1 heaping Tbsp bacon fatmelt over medium; cook shallots soft, 5 minadd each in turn; cook softadd; cook 1 minadd; on the stove, bring almost to a boil; cover, into the ovenbake 30 min; pull the kombubake until tender, 1–1½ h more; salt and MSG halfwaypull chiles, bay, shiitake; chop shiitake, stir back; salt and MSG to taste; rest 15 min
½ cup shallotsmince
collard ribs, 1 bunchstrip; mince small
2 celery ribsmince small
3 small carrotsmince small
3 garlic clovesmince
2 dried chiles
1 tsp bean seasoning
2 California bay leaves
1 lb Jackson Wonder beansrinse, sort, soak overnight; drain
water, to cover by 1 in
2 dried shiitake
2 pieces kombu
kosher salt and MSG

Notes

Kevin's own pot, built around a bag of Jackson Wonder beans from the Rancho Gordo Bean Club. Jackson Wonder is an heirloom speckled lima. Rancho Gordo says even lima haters on their staff loved it and the rich broth it makes. Christmas limas or other large limas work too. Bigger beans may need more time.

The pot never boils hard. It comes almost to a boil on the stove, then the 300°F oven holds it just below a boil. The beans cook through gently, the skins stay whole, and the insides turn creamy.

Shiitake, kombu, and MSG build a deep savory broth with only a spoon of bacon fat. Pull the kombu at 30 minutes, before it turns slimy. The shiitake go back in, chopped, so nothing is wasted.

Salt twice. Salt halfway seasons the beans all the way through. Salt at the end corrects for the broth as it reduces.

Pair with Sunday Collards and Crispy Corn Bread. The collard leaves go in one pot and the ribs go in this one, so one bunch feeds both. Sop up the bean broth and the pot likker with the corn bread.