Figured I need to start eating more beans, and I’d like to start making dry beans, so I thought I’d consult the Hexbear collective intelligence - what’s your best method of making (dry) beans? Soak or no soak? Salt or no salt? How long do you cook for? I once read something about boiling the beans for 10 minutes before simmering to get rid of lectins - is this necessary? Seems like overkill, and I don’t think lectins are really that bad. What’s your method?
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- Probably soak stuff, it’ll cook quicker if you do
- No salt until they’re already soft, then salt and cook a bit longer. They really do get softer if you don’t salt until the end
- Cook until they’re done, if in doubt, go a little longer, because undercooked beans are no fun to eat
- Yes on the 10 minutes of boiling. Most beans are fine, but some varieties will give you some pretty unpleasant stomach pain if you don’t boil for at least 10 minutes, so just do it with all of them to be safe, it doesn’t hurt anything
Kidney beans need the cooking water tossed out I think
I soak beans (except black beans) in salted water overnight, discard the water after, and then cook them in a pot with salted water, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and bay leaves until one bean can be smashed with your tongue against the roof of your mouth with minimal pressure.
I use a pressure cooker (instant pot), my ratio is typically 1 lb of dry beans, 4 cups of stock of your choice, blast them fuckers for 45 minutes to an hour, and voila, BEENZ
i really need to get one of those. was worried about potential catastrophic failure especially since i assume the instant pot company is at the “cut all quality to keep increasing profits” phase
So, funny thing about that, iirc Instant Pot went bankrupt because the quality of their products was TOO high. People don’t need to buy a replacement after 6 months, which means “sales are down”, which means investor babies freak out and bail on the company. Good durable product = line go down
. Extremely rational system btw.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/instant-pot-bankrupt
I would recommend trying to pick one up if you can find one, I’ve loved mine, had 0 issues with it since I got it.
Correction, the company was bought out by a private equity firm who then loaded the company down with tons of debit (the same company did the same thing to Pyrex) and made out like bandits.
Beans are easy AF. Lots of good tips here but may as well add my method… cover with boiling water up to a couple of inches above the level of the beans and leave them to sit overnight, discard that, put them in a pot with an onion 2 bay leaves and half a bell pepper, maybe some garlic if you want. Add water and let them simmer. I google the ratio every time. Bring to a boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 2-3 hours or until tender
If you use a pressure cooker it’s much faster and no need to soak
Adding to this, if you’re trying to make beans for pretty much any north american food, buy the oregano from the Hispanic section. It tastes different enough to be worth it and add a lot
NO SALT… I’m pretty sure if you add salt to water while soaking/cooking dry legumes some chemical wizardry happens and makes it very difficult for the beans to actually soften. They might be edible but they’re going to be crunchier than you’d normally expect.
Instant Pot for the win. InstantPot(Water + Beans) =
Crock Pot is old school cool. Can take quite a while but if you’re making something kinda soupy with lots of other ingredients and don’t want to do much more than check in on it every 30 minutes or so this way works. Generates lots of heat though.
Stove top beans, takes a while, but it can be easier to scoop off the “foam” while you’re cooking. There may/may not be a correlation between this foam and farts (or rumbly tummy after eating beans cooked this way.)
I usually dump them in a crock pot with whatever else to make a meal.
If i don’t do that i usually soak them for 24 hours to save on electricity bill, then boil them on the stove until they are soft (like 30 minutes maybe…) then i just use them the same way you’d use a can of already cooked beans
It tends to vary depending on the bean.
I love black beans so that’s probably what I’ll be cooking the most of
If you want a firm but yielding bean for a salad (not mushy):
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soak 1 cup beans in 4 cups cold water overnight. Discard soaking water.
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Bring 2/3 of a pot of water to a rolling boil. Dump in your soaked beans and boil 25-30 minutes, then drain.
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I soak overnight when I remember to(about 10% of the time). Otherwise I do a speed soak where I add the beans to boiling water and cook for 5-10 minutes then dump the water. I always salt the heck out of the water.
I’ve heard that lectins aren’t as big of a deal as some people think, but boiling for 10 minutes doesn’t overcook them for the meals I make.
Most of the things I use beans for cook for a hour or more. Red beans and rice I’ll cook for almost 2 hours on a low simmer, occasionally mashing, so most of the beans are broken, making a yummy thick slop.
