Bean Question

notbob said:

On 2007-05-03, Steve Pope <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Doesn't an overnight soak shorten the cooking time?

Quoted message said:

It shortens the cooking time of the interior of the bean. So, you get
a soft mushy interior while the skin is still tough and chewy. If you
like your beans like that, go for it. I don't.

Mostly I don't want to spend ~3 hours preparing dinner. If
I soak the beans overnight, they cook in about 40 minutes. That
gives me the opportunity to spend only about an hour preparing
a bean-based dinner (chili, red beans and rice, etc. etc.)

Steve

cybercat wrote on Thu, 3 May 2007 14:28:47 -0400:

c> "James Silverton" <not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote
??>> I've never noticed any effect on flavor and I use about 1
??>> tsp for a cup of beans. I use it too to cook lentils (dal)
??>> of various sorts. For dal I also add 1/2 tsp of turmeric.
??>> It would not be appropriate for beans and it may just be a
??>> legend but it is supposed to reduce flatulence later.
??>>
c> As is discarding the soak water, if you soak them, although
c> that is supposed to cut back on nutrients.

c> I love lentils. I find they cook (unsoaked of course) in
c> about twenty minutes. What a fine "meaty" flavor they have.
c> I had never heard them called dal before, I guess that
c> middle eastern?

Indian; most lentil dishes I cook are Indian. I'm not a
vegetarian but cooked dal is a good protein sauce. I don't go
along with extreme Hindu (or Hari Krishna: "Lord Krishna
disapproves of anything that meat eaters might use"😉 ideas and I
use onion, garlic and chicken stock to make the final result.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

Mr Libido Incognito <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I can't cook beans to save my soul...Hello my name is Mr Libido
Incognito and I can't cook dried beans. They are always tough...I've
tried the overnight soaking...adding baking soda, adding salt, the
boil twice method...no acids...standing on my left leg , drinking from
the other side of the glass and many other folk lore methods, alas
nothing helps.

<snip>

I have no idea what the conversion factor is, but I'd be willing to bet the
problem is not with your beans or your methods, but your water. Have you
tried using water from some other source? If I were you, instead of
standing on your left leg, or whatever, I'd try using some "soft" bottled
water. Stay away from "hard" water because some of it can make beans
"uncookable." Take a look here:

http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/bakingsoda.htm

If you try it, I'd like to know the results.

M

"James Silverton" <not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote

Quoted message said:

Indian; most lentil dishes I cook are Indian. I'm not a vegetarian but
cooked dal is a good protein sauce.

Ahh, I should have guessed that. Indian food intrigues me.
There is an Indian place here in Raleigh where we eat a
few times a year. I love the spices.

I don't go

Quoted message said:

along with extreme Hindu (or Hari Krishna: "Lord Krishna disapproves of
anything that meat eaters might use"😉 ideas and I use onion, garlic and
chicken stock to make the final result.

The lentils I make are my own creation, I guess they started
out as lentil soup, but are really thick and hearty enough to be
a main dish now. I love carmelized onion chunks in lentils, and
have begun using two whole medium onions to one bag of
lentils! Other than that, I just put in a touch of tomato for tang,
bay leaf and pepper, a bit of salt. My usual sprinkle of cheddar
on top. They are so much better after sitting overnight in the
fridge.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Ms P wrote on 03 May 2007 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

"Mr Libido Incognito" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I can't cook beans to save my soul...Hello my name is Mr Libido
Incognito and I can't cook dried beans. They are always tough...I've
tried the overnight soaking...adding baking soda, adding salt, the
boil twice method...no acids...standing on my left leg , drinking
from the other side of the glass and many other folk lore methods,
alas nothing helps.

I don't do any of that stuff. I never soak. I pick them over and
wash them. Dump them in a large pot with a chunk of ham and enough
water to cover, put the lid on and stick in the oven at 350 degrees
for four hours. Perfect every time. They never boil dry or burn and
they're always cooked perfect. You need to check them after about
half an hour and make sure there aren't any stuck to the sides or
above the water level.

Ms P

Well my soup is done.

I took 4 cans of navy beans and dumped them into 4 liters of chicken
stock, 24 oz of tomato juice, the juice of 2 limes and added a finely
sliced large yellow onion, 2 finely sliced elephant garlic cloves, the
heart of a bunch of celery, a tbsp of crushed red pepper, several dashes
of liquid smoke and 2 diced carrots and put the stove on low. While that
heated I put about 1.5 lbs dried navy beans in a dutch oven covered well
with water in the oven at 350F. for 3 hours. When the dried beans were
cooked I pureed them with my stick blender and added them to the just
starting to simmer soup in the pot...I brought it to a full boil and back
to a simmer for 30 ish minutes then added a lb of bacon that I had
crumbled... did a final taste test and added a mess of black pepper and a
dash of sherry.

Tastes purdy good.

Tomorrow perhaps beef stew french style (I can't spell burgonion).

Mr Libido Incognito said:

Ms P wrote on 03 May 2007 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

"Mr Libido Incognito" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't cook beans to save my soul...Hello my name is Mr Libido
Incognito and I can't cook dried beans. They are always tough...I've
tried the overnight soaking...adding baking soda, adding salt, the
boil twice method...no acids...standing on my left leg , drinking
from the other side of the glass and many other folk lore methods,
alas nothing helps.

Quoted message said:

I don't do any of that stuff.  I never soak.  I pick them over and
wash them.  Dump them in a large pot with a chunk of ham and enough
water to cover, put the lid on and stick in the oven at 350 degrees
for four hours. Perfect every time.  They never boil dry or burn and
they're always cooked perfect.  You need to check them after about
half an hour and make sure there aren't any stuck to the sides or
above the water level.

Quoted message said:

Ms P

Well my soup is done.

I took 4 cans of navy beans and dumped them into 4 liters of chicken
stock, 24 oz of tomato juice, the juice of 2 limes and added a finely
sliced large yellow onion, 2 finely sliced elephant garlic cloves, the
heart of a bunch of celery, a tbsp of crushed red pepper, several dashes
of liquid smoke and 2 diced carrots and put the stove on low. While that
heated I put about 1.5 lbs dried navy beans in a dutch oven covered well
with water in the oven at 350F. for 3 hours. When the dried beans were
cooked I pureed them with my stick blender and added them to the just
starting to simmer soup in the pot...I brought it to a full boil and back
to a simmer for 30 ish minutes then added a lb of bacon that I had
crumbled... did a final taste test and added a mess of black pepper and a
dash of sherry.

Tastes purdy good.

That's a lot of beans... I hope you live alone. LOL

Sheldon

Sheldon wrote on 03 May 2007 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

That's a lot of beans... I hope you live alone. LOL

Sheldon

I can always blame it on the cat.

Mr Libido Incognito said:

Sheldon said:

That's a lot of beans... I hope you live alone. LOL

I can always blame it on the cat.

It's not easy to blame that many beans on one cat... maybe if you had
a german shepherd. 🙂

Sheldon wrote on 03 May 2007 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Mr Libido Incognito said:

Sheldon said:

That's a lot of beans... I hope you live alone. LOL

I can always blame it on the cat.

It's not easy to blame that many beans on one cat... maybe if you had
a german shepherd. 🙂

It's a BIG cat....

Graeme...in London said:

"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You know nothing of lentils but all about beans... you know
nothing[period]

Ahhh, look who's here on the cooking group. My numptie buddy, Sheldon.

You better do your Googling to understand "Numptie"

Google is always *your* friend, asswipe

Graeme

*le mot juste*.

your pal,
blake

In article <[email hidden]>,

Christine Dabney said:

On Thu, 03 May 2007 05:32:48 GMT, Mr Libido Incognito <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I found it too much interested in the Tech end of things...Too many pages
on how to chop stuff and too many pages on how to make basic stocks...etc.

I guess if I didn't have 20 or 30 other cookbooks on how to make soup it
might appeal. But 3 pages on: when, how and why to moisten cheese cloth to
help strain the stock properly is too much techno-babble for me. When
other books follow other just as valid methods to produce the same
results...I found it a very boring and limiting volume. Especialy when in
every recipe it has a tip which says use store bought stocks and start at
step 6.

Hmm..that doesn't sound like the book I have. Must be another one.

Christine, I think it's a different edition. I leafed through it either
online or in a store and it was more basic.

The one we have is by Diane Rossen Worthington - worth a look on amazon.

Charlotte
--

cybercat said:

"Kate Connally" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>Maybe it isn't you, but the beans?
>

No. That is crazy. Cooking dried beans simply takes patience
And NEVER add salt.

This is not true. I always add salt and all the rest
of my ingredients for Boston-style Baked Beans when
I boil the beans. I use Great Northerns.

I've never made these, but I think they're in the 15-bean mix I
use.

I add salt,

Quoted message said:

Worcestershire sauce, molasses, prepared mustard, brown
sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, onion. When they
are done so that the skin wrinkles when you blow on
it - a couple of hours -

This is a really unique way of testing for doneness. 🙂

Well, it's in the recipe I use for the baked beans.
I think it's an old method. The recipe is in an ancient
Good Housekeeping cookbook.

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?
[email hidden]