Beans.... a preliminary guide
For most of you reading this cooking beans from scratch is old hat. This makes sense..beans are far and way the cheapest form of protein available (short of cannibalism), they are versatile,tasty, filling, healthy, and ubiquitous in virtually every cuisine on earth for thousands of years.
However , it has come to my attention that there are many , many, many of us who do not understand how to make our dry beans tender moist and pliable in a manner suitable to people used to convenience foods. These methods allow one to by pass the expense and BPA in canned beans and retain most of the convenience. Storage methods discussed later.
For bean in this post I mean broad beans of all types, soybeans, lupins, Vigna,chickpeas and Phaseolus types. Lentils ,peas and other pulses are generally prepared differently.
Here, I present 2 methods which both require this 1st step
Step one:
Take 1lb bag of beans and pick through for bits of rock, beans without skin, rotten/gnawed on parts and rinse to remove road crap. (I call this showering the beans.) Prep Flavoring agents. In my case I usually cook beans with plenty of garlic onion and cumin because my my favorite are black beans. I add lime, salt and ancho chiles at the end. to navy beans I leave them be as there are widely differing methods to spice these guys and I use them to make a creamier lower fat macaroni and cheese, a garlic dip, and in baked beans. To red beans I usually add garlic, green pepper, red onion cumin oregano and tomatoes. Adzuki beans get left alone until they're done cooking as they're used for sweets. Whatever.
1. Low tech
post shower Soak overnight in 2x as much warm water as there are beans. Leave it alone covered with a cover, towel or whatever at room temp. Drain (no you can't skip this. feed your plants the water) and cover with 2X as much water as the current volume. That usually means 1lb of beans ends up with 2 qt of water at this stage. Add any seasonings desired except salt and vinegar (salt and vinegar make beans stay hard), onions garlic, wine , whatever. Bring to a boil and cover...reduce to a simmer boil 40 minutes to 2 1/2 hours here's a chart telling you how long each type takes http://www.chezbettay.com/pages/basics1/basics_beans1.html
2.'high tech"
This is what our crockpot lives for. It takes less energy, less effort and less hands on time to create good beans this way than any other method. You plop your 1 lb of showered beans into the crockpot with 6 cups water or unsalted flavoring liquid. (salt and vinegar make beans stay hard) cover and turn on low. Add seasonings that aren't salt or vinegar. Go away for 8 hours. If it's too thick add water. If your beans are too firm wait a while.
The one caveat is that yes you do need to cook them for the full 8 hours or risk poisoning yourself. According to Wikipedia "Some kinds of raw beans, especially red and
kidney beans, contain a harmful toxin (
lectin phytohaemagglutinin) that must be removed by cooking. A recommended method is to boil the beans for at least ten minutes; undercooked beans may be more toxic than raw beans. Cooking beans in a,
slow cooker because of the lower temperatures often used, may not destroy toxins even though the beans do not smell or taste 'bad'(though this should not be a problem if the food reaches boiling temperature and stays there for some time)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean.
3. the gassy (um quick) method...just don't . this method makes sub par beans that make your gastrointestinal tract infamous rather than your gastronomy. Go ahead and use some other bean. You can even buy frozen or canned just this once. I won't tell.
4. A pressure cooker. These are apparently awesome for this and real energy savers. Unfortunately, I don't have one and I don't know how. Check another blog.
Sorry.
Yeah now I have one. These ARE awesome. Rinse and pick you beans add 2 cups beans and fill water to the minimum fill line. Attach lis per directions. Cook on high until pressure hisses. Reduce to simmer and do something for 35 minutes. Your beans are done. Look at the chart that comes with yours.
Storage: why you can use this instead of canned.
Crockpot:
If you used a crockpot you can leave anything but chickpeas in there for 3 or so days adding about 1 cup of water a day to replace the amount lost by evaporation
The chickpeas will get water logged and gross. Drain them after 1 day at most unless they are in Chili.
If you aren't crock potting them allow them to cool.
Frozen:
You can pour them into any bpa free container and stack in the freezer. Freezer bags filled and squished flat work well here as do freezable glass jars.
Jars should only be filled 2/3 to allow for the water in the beans to expand as it freezes. If using on stovetop add 1/2 water to heat. put them in other things in the oven or you can nuke them if you want. I don't but then we don't own a nuker and I'm freaked out by possible radiation in my starches.
fridge;
Pour into jar and store in fridge. (any old jar will do)
As a puree: This is what we call lowfat refried beans. Take my blackbeans recipe from above ..pour off 1/2 the bean liquor (into soup maybe?)and apply a stick blender until smooth.
You can do this..It's easier than writing about it even.
