Fabes
Phaseolus vulgaris var Granxa Asturiana -Fabes may be the single most important contribution to Asturian cooking to come out of the Columbian Exchange I grew up in Western North Carolina, a place that, for reasons not entirely clear to me, has a very similar food culture to Asturias. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the local love for Greasy Short-Cuts and Fabes, respectively.
Maybe it's just that stew-eating mountain folk across the world value the same kinds of high-fat runner beans. In both places, people are awfully picky about their beans. And in both they are awfully protective of what they consider to be their beans. More so in Asturias I suppose, given that fabes have a protected IGP status, but only barely more so.
Fabes la granxa
Literally "farm beans". These are the gold standard for making Fabada.
For beans to qualify as Fabes la granxa they must have the following characteristics:
- no stained, broken, empty, or wrinkled grains
- humidity: 14-18%
- size: big and uniform
- length: 21–26 mm
- width: 9–11 mm
- thickness: 7–8 mm
- form: preferably kidney shape
- color and shade: sparkly white.
This variety has a high fat content, which makes it especially smooth and meaty.
Acceptable Substitutions
My neighbors would tell you that there are no substitutes, and that what is destroying proper fabada is import beans from the other side of the Atlantic. And I might be liable to agree with them if I wasn't from western North Carolina. But I am, and I grew up eating what is known there as greasy short cuts or just plain greasy beans.
These beans, like their Asturian cousins, are incredibly meaty and fatty. They are often eaten on their own for supper, with cornbread as the only accompaniment. If you are lucky enough to have a supplier of these, then you can use them exactly as you would fabes.
If not, you can still make fabada, pote, and other Asturian bean dishes, using a more accessible bean substitute. I recommend Cannelini beans. Failing that, Great Northern beans are an acceptable substitute as well.. They are the closest widely available substitute to fabes and greasy short cuts.
Recipes
The following recipes are available using Fabes:
