Black Beans, Star Anise and....Beer Cookies

Another blast from a past January.  These recipes, from the 1983 Gourmet, struck me as particularly interesting, especially for their time. Nina Simonds, who was writing a two-year long series on Chinese cooking, took time out to suggest non-Chinese ways of using classic Asian ingredients.  I was especially taken with her notion that black beans are a good substitute for black truffles (two umami ingredients), and I'm eager to try this pate.

the steel blade grind fine the mixture in

I like the sound of these simple short ribs too: they're not all that different from the recipe David Tanis published in the New York Times a few weeks ago.

And here's a reader recipe.  Who can resist the lure of beer cookies?

Tomorrow, for those who were intrigued by yesterday's ad for Ponte's, I'll post Jay Jacobs' fascinating review of the restaurant (which was also in this issue).  I've never read anything quite like it.