Cooking Dried Beans

[ExtraMSG]

Yeah, you always want as little water as possible. The less water the faster the absorption, according to McGee. But I don't want to take any chances. 10 cups per pound of beans was about the least I saw in any recipes when I started doing it. I guess I could retest it. Those might have been uncovered in the oven.

[bloviatrix]

I also use about 10 cups/pound with 1 tsp of salt. Pot was uncovered in the oven. The beans remained submerged, but almost all of the water was absorbed.

[ExtraMSG]

I should do a blind taste test on my salt-averse wife to try and find the optimal amount of salt. I just need three Le Creusets. Time to shopping.

[redfox]

Ah, I was doing it covered, so of course less water left via evaporation.

[Jaymes]

Yeah, you always want as little water as possible.

Depending, of course, on what kind of beans you're preparing and how you want them to turn out.

My personal favorite, Mexican pinto beans, are generally very soupy. They are served in bowls and eaten with spoons. The liquid broth is delicious. In fact, many Mexicans will tell you that the best part is the "bean juice."

Edited March 19, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[rancho_gordo]

My personal favorite, Mexican pinto beans, are generally very soupy. They are served in bowls and eaten with spoons. The liquid broth is delicious. In fact, many Mexicans will tell you that the best part is the "bean juice."

Despite the advice given here at different times, I agree with Jaymes. It's free soup! Pot Liquor is a gift. Poach eggs with it, make enfrijoladas (instead of a chile sauce, dip tortillas in the pot liquor), make rice with it, etc.

But it depends on the bean, too. Some don't have such a swell broth, others are incredible.

[Mabelline]

Is there anyone familiar with the Native beans of many Az.,N.M., Chihuahua, and Texas beans known as tepary beans? I have had such a craving for them, I could shake like a junkie thinking of a pot of them with some gooood pork!!! I have ordered some seeds from Native Seed Search, but I despair, because I WANT SOME NOW!! Spoiled brat coming out...please tell me someone else has tasted them?

[ExtraMSG]

Yeah, you always want as little water as possible.

Depending, of course, on what kind of beans you're preparing and how you want them to turn out.

My personal favorite, Mexican pinto beans, are generally very soupy. They are served in bowls and eaten with spoons. The liquid broth is delicious. In fact, many Mexicans will tell you that the best part is the "bean juice."

I just meant for speed. Black bean soup rocks. You gotta have that pot liquor.

I made the most luscious refried beans the other day. I used red beans and cooked them with some onion, garlic, home-made chicken stock, cumin, coriander, and a chipotle. Drained, added in some leftover salsas from the upcoming salsa class, and sauteed in some lard, then mashed and added back in the pot liquor to smooth it out. Yum, yum, yum.

[Rachel Perlow]

It makes sense that the cranberry beans took longer to cook, as they are about twice the size of the beans I was using (small red and small white beans).

[JennotJenn]

russ,

i wonder if your experiments have included cooking beans in a pressure-cooker.

I'm curious about the pressure cooker as well. Perhaps my success with that method comes partly from the fact that I'm making what Rancho Gordo referred to as pot beans, I believe. This is the traditional way to eat them in the Appalachian Mountains, where pinto is also king. I usually do a quick soak (boil and soak for an hour) because I forget to soak them until I get home from work on the night I plan on making them. Put them in the pressure cooker with a handful of salt (1/8 cup? dunno, I have small hands, so whatever a cupped palm will hold). I've never had a problem with toughened beans, or with the beans breaking apart. I get perfectly cooked, perfectly soft beans every time. I don't know if they would work as well in recipes, but for eating with the broth and a slice of cornbread, the pressure cooker cannot be beat. At least IMO. My grandma and mom say so, too. Can 3 generations of hillbillies be wrong?\

McGee's chapter on legumes did change one thing for me...I do tend to cook them with less water than when I first started making my own beans. I still get plenty of bean juice and they do seem to achieve a creaminess that I wasn't seeing before (softness, yes, creaminess, no).

Oh, and I've found that it makes no difference with the amount of flatulence w/traditional stovetop vs. pressure cooker. I have not tried the oven method, though I may give it a go next weekend.

[rancho_gordo]

Spoiled brat coming out...please tell me someone else has tasted them?

Teparys are great. they taste earthy. They look like lentils but they don't fall apart. They remain chewy and creamy at the same time. And they're drought tolerant. Plus higher in protein and fiber. Everybody wins!

[redfox]

I have not tried the oven method, though I may give it a go next weekend.

Please do and report back! I think it will wind up taking no more time than your quick soak + pressure cooking, and with even less fuss.

[redfox]

And now I have made the mistake of looking at Rancho Gordo's wonderful heirloom beans and setting myself up for unfulfillable cravings. How I wish I still lived in the Bay Area! I WANT.

[fifi]

I have to agree with Jaymes and rancho_gordo on the "bean juice" issue. While I prefer most beans cooked with "just enough" liquid, there are those that lend themselves to wonderful bean juice. The pintos, of course, but also those fresh shelled peas in the summertime. Good cornbread to soak it up is a necessity. Nothing is right or wrong, just a whole 'nother thing.

I have always heard of teparys but, strangely, never tried them. I will have to go looking for them.

[bloviatrix]

Rancho -- is there any way we can convince you to do mail-order your egullet family? Please???? We'll ask nicely?

[russ parsons]

customer says to the waiter: "what do you call this soup?" waiter says: "it's bean soup." customer says "I know it's been soup, but what is it now?" (told to me, repeatedly, by a dear old friend who was a writer for groucho).

i'm a big fan of bean broth, obviously, but one thing i've never tried: clarifying it? has anyone done this? i've got this fantasy picture of a bean consome with some beautiful cooked beans in the bottom of the bowl and a clear broth on top. i remember years ago john sedlar did a similar thing with posole and it totally rocked.

on another matter: i found that cooking beans with the lid off GREATLY increased the cooking time, by a factor of 2 or 3, in fact. furthermore, i found the beans didn't cook as evenly. i strongly recommend covering the pot while cooking them.

[Jensen]

Rancho -- is there any way we can convince you to do mail-order your egullet family? Please???? We'll ask nicely?

Not to discourage RG from expanding his business to "family" but ...

in case such an expansion really isn't feasible at this point in time, there is a NorCal mail-order source for heirloom beans at The Bean Bag.

I first encountered these beans at Whole Foods here in Sacramento. I loved them so much but every time I went back for more, there were none to be had. Just as I was about to break down and order some through their website, they made a trip to my local farmer's market.

[mnebergall]

Thanks for that link. I have added it to my bookmarks.

[jodicalhoun]

I have an oar to stick in the Anasazi Bean stream. My favorite beans for many years when I lived in Western Colorado, I was afraid when I moved to Washington State I would never eat another Anasazi Bean. But, thank heaven for mothers! My mom sends me a five pound bag of Anasazi Beans directly from the source. Here is what I know. "The Source" is "Adobe Mills Beans" in a small town near Cortez, Colorado. Check directory assistance for number. They sell black and pinto beans as well as Anasazi. They are a fairly small producer and I have never had a freshness issue. What a mom! Other moms send their daughters sweaters, mine sends beans!! Gotta love her.

[klc14]

Tried it in a toaster oven using a medium-heavy made-in-Japan no-name stoneware casserole with lid from the Goodwill store. Results still good. The Parsons Method is not brand-sensitive but benefits from quality.

Working with ExtraMSG's template and Russ' advice about salting before cooking to salt the beans and not just the broth, 1/2 pound pinto beans, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons of thyme, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 5 cups boiling water, hour and a half, temp 275. A bit hotter than recommended but beans were done. LOTS of bean juice. Could have gotten away with 4 cups of water.

I also had a meal of a nice big bowl of beans and also expected to have a wind problem, even had the candles lit to burn off the methane , but....nothing. I don't eat beans that much either.

Overall: MUCH easier than the rinsing, soaking, draining, soaking, draining, boiling, draining, simmering on burner I tried before. Those scorched on the bottom a bit. No such problem with the oven-baked beans. I will be more likely to cook them with this method, which can only help the US bean industry!

Also: Much less water used than with all that soaking.

I am going to try rancho_gordo's method next. Never hurts to have a plan B.

[fifi]

I did the Russ Parsons method tonight "by the book" (well, I used a little less water). In the LC pot, I sauteed a medium yellow onion and three garlic cloves in a little olive oil, added the beans and 1 1/2 quarts of water with about a teaspoon and a half of kosher salt. Brought that to a simmer and put it in a 250F oven with the lid on. Ninety minutes later I had loverly beans. I added a little more salt to my taste, about a quarter cup of my "Zarella's magic ancho paste" and a 7 oz. can of chopped green chiles and allowed them to percolate for about another half hour. I am in bean heaven and it smells wonderful in here. I waited to add the chile paste and chiles since I think they may be rather acid.

[runnerbean]

As the author of "The Bean Bible", I know there are many methods of cooking beans, with pluses and minuses for each one. I do soak whole beans, unless I know for sure they're from this year's crop, like Rancho Gordo's homegrown (I wish I could get to the farmer's market where he sells his). Not only do soaked beans cook up plumper in less time, but soaking leaches out some of the nasty oligosaccharides (complex sugars) that are difficult for many of us to digest. The best quality beans, homegrown this year's crop from specialty growers like Adobe Milling and the Bean Bag, and imported high quality beans from France, Spain, and Italy will cook up best--whole, creamy, and plump--without falling apart. As far as cooking method, a pressure cooker is wonderful--and beans should definitely be salted if using this method--to keep them firmer under pressure, but it takes experimenting to get the right pressure and cooking time for each type of bean. My favorite fail-safe cooking method for beans is to soak, blanch by boiling about 5 minutes, (to remove even more of the sugars), drain and then bring to the boil again (barely covered) with fresh water or other liquid in a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven (I use Creuset) and then cover and bake at 300 degrees till creamy but still firm. I'd be happy to answer questions about bean cookery.

[mnebergall]

Runnerbean: Welcome to eGullet. Thanks for the information. I ordered up several bags of beans yesterday from Bean Bag and plan on making some bean soup this weekend (if they get here in time).

[Jensen]

mnebergall ... what varieties did you order?

So far, I've tried three different types from them: Tiger Eye, Eye of the Goat, and Rio Zappe. They've all had different cooking times and the end product is different too. Tiger Eye has turned out to be quite creamy ... much like a pinto bean. Eye of the Goat and Rio Zappe are firmer; I quite enjoyed the Rio Zappe.

[mnebergall]

Anasazi

Green Flageolet

Pebble

Repokeb (Tiger Eye)

Trout