49 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:I don’t know what’s in that paste, but don’t soak or try to cook dried beans with acidic ingredients. Beyond that, go for it.
I cook Rancho Gordo beans regularly. I don’t soak, except for Royal Coronas, nor do I use an Instant Pot as I like the concentration of flavor that comes from evaporation. I add garlic, bay leaves and arbol chiles to every pot and find the beans very flavorful.
The paste has citric acid as a preservative, so based on what you say, it should not be used in the soaking or cooking process. What if I were to create my own chili pepper infusion by grinding or mincing fresh chili peppers and creating an infusion as originally described. Nothing but pepper-infused water, maybe some salt. Would that work?
When you describe the beans as flavorful, are you including the liquid in that description? If so, what about the beans themselves, after cooking but without the liquid, i.e., drained or drained and rinsed? I want the beans themselves to have a strong flavor apart from the cooking liquid, as the liquid my not always be used in the recipes.
