PrintWhy won't my dried beans cook evenly?
I always soak them for the required amount of time. I never salt them until the end. I have tried with limas, black beans, kidney beans, cannellinis, black eyed peas and countless others. They always cook unevenly, and the skins are always horribly tough. Even lentils routinely let me down! What am I doing wrong?
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9 Comments:
I have this problem here in So Tx, where beans are a staple, and I think it is due to our extremely hard water. Maybe that's why for every 1 Lb dry beans, we add 1 can cheap beer to the cooking water. Pre-soaking a long time seems to help, and I would think that acidifying the water with 1 T. vinegar to every Lb. of dry beans may help, too. Indeed, a number of frijole recipes I have read in local publications call for some vinegar. I suppose any acid would do.
dksbook at 11:02AM on 01/13/07
That's a good idea. I live in London, and we have very hard water here too. I'll give it a try.
caley at 11:51AM on 01/13/07
Do you cover the pot? My Grandmother maintained that beans won't cook properly uncovered.
OldHippie at 12:43PM on 01/13/07
It doesn't seem to make a difference in So TX, although I usually cover and barely simmer overnight-soaked beans for about 2 hours before seasoning anyway.
dksbook at 4:20PM on 01/13/07
Just for fun, here is a fairly standard So TX recipe for cooking beans, which can be "refried" after the first eating:
1lb dry pinto beans, cleaned and soaked for at least 8 hours
12 oz beer, your choice, flat is fine
1 fresh, clean jalapeno, or about 1/2 tsp. dry powdered jalapeno (Penzey's)
After soaking, bring beans to a boil in fresh water, reduce heat to barely simmering, add the beer and the jalapeno, whole, if fresh, and cook covered for about 2 hours. You are looking for a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, chop about 4 thick rashers of bacon (mesquite smoked is nice), and cook it over medium heat til nearly crisp.
Chop a small onion and a clove of garlic (not too much!) and saute them in the bacon grease. About 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper is nice, too, sauteed in the same way.
After the beans have cooked 2 hours, add the bacon, onion garlic and bell pepper, if used, including the bacon grease. Raise heat to medium, and cook without the lid on the pot for about 1/2 hour.
While you do that, chop one or two roma tomatoes into a fine dice, and chop about 3/4 cup of fresh cilantro (some tender stems are ok, too.) You are looking for about equal amounts by volume of cilantro and chopped tomato.
Taste the beans. If they seem done, throw in the tomato-cilantro mixture, salt to taste, boil about 5 - 10 minutes, and serve. You can take out or leave in the jalapeno.
The "caldo" or broth from these beans is thought to have the same effect as chicken soup for colds, and some swear by it as a remedy for a hangover. Have a bottle of Cholula brand hot sauce on the table for those who need "heat".
And if you have leftovers, the next day "refry" them by heating about a tablespoon of the fat of your choice in a frying pan, putting in the beans, mashing about half of them, and heating them up til they bubble, giving you "frijoles refritos". Unfortunately, lard is the best fat to use for this.
dksbook at 4:42PM on 01/13/07
Your beans might be a little old. I think it was in John Thorne's "Pot on the Fire" where I read that dried beans, though dried, are still best when fairly freshly dried. It definitely helps to get them from some place that has a lot of turnover. His method of slow-cooking dried beans in their soaking liquid produces peerless beans, with the tenderest, most velvety beans just barely held together by the skins. There's not too much danger of overcooking, and you get optimum flavor.
Soak your beans at least overnight (but I generally leave them in for 1-2 days), making sure the water level always covers the beans completely. Take the liquid and bring to a boil separately while adding a good amount of salt, pepper, and paprika to the beans, a couple glugs of good olive oil, 5-6 sage leaves and a peeled whole clove of garlic. Pour the hot bean liquid into your seasoned beans (in a clay pot, casserole or dutch/french oven) and cover with a lid (i usually construct something out of foil if I can't find a lid) and stick it in the oven at the lowest temperature (something around 125-150°, let's say) and cook for 4-5 hours, mixing them within the pot every so often and ensuring that they're always immersed in liquid (add more boiling water if necessary). After 4 hours, taste and see if they're nearly there and then just check every once in a while and take 'em out when they're done.
These are THE BEST BEANS EVER. Dunno if I'd do this with lentils, however.
Winnie Yang at 12:10AM on 01/15/07
dksbook and Winnie Yang, these are great cooking suggestions and I will try them! It's a good point you make about my beans being possibly a bit old - in mainstrean London supermarkets, dried beans are not exactly flying off the shelves. Still, I frequently buy them in my local Bangladeshi shops, and the result is generally the same. Clearly I have some tinkering to do!
caley at 7:04AM on 01/15/07
Please head over to the Rancho Gordo Bean Blog and look around http://ranchogordo.typepad.com/
As noted above, your beans may be old, but then again, they might be young and don't need the 24 hours of soaking.
Rancho Gordo are the best beans in the world, and Steve REALLY loves his beans, so if he can't help you no one can!
Good luck!
Ann at 2:02PM on 01/16/07
Don't know where you live, but if it is a high altitude, that is probably the reason. Try a pressure cooker.
Lakerat at 9:07AM on 04/19/08