Better Beans ?

[digitS']

Do these tips from the Martha Stewart website for better cooking of dry beans make sense to you?

DW is not much of a fan of dry beans so I do very little cooking of them but just seeing a picture of Chickpeas on the website was inspiring for yours truly ,

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

sure if you want to fiddle about.

i prefer to keep it simple, start your water to boil before you sort and rinse the beans (removing any off colored beans, dust, etc.), when the water is boiling add your beans and lower to a simmer, stirring a few times before they settle down. then stir about every 25-30minutes checking how done they are. the more firm you like them the less time they need to cook. i prefer to have them well cooked.

i don't usually add spices or anything other than more hot water as required (warming it up in the microwave to get it to a boil before adding to the pot 'o beans).

by keeping them simple and doing a large pot or two of them at a time when i do make them means i can store them in the freezer and use them for various things when wanted. we're out at the moment, but i'm not sure the next time i'm making a big batch.

 

[digitS']

water to boil before you sort and rinse the beans

You aren't soaking your beans first?

I thought that we could only do that with lentils & peas.

 

[flowerbug]

You aren't soaking your beans first?

I thought that we could only do that with lentils & peas.

i haven't done that for a long time. i don't know if it is that my body has adapted to the targeted compounds or if it really doesn't matter, but because i've not suffered any obvious problems i don't worry about it.

we do drain off "the sludge" as Mom calls it, i personally like it and wouldn't waste it as i think it has a lot of flavor and also contains a lot of the beans too as they do fall apart when really well cooked but in some ways Mom isn't going to change and that is one of them... (the only soups that don't have that drained off are the ones where the beans or peas fall completely apart like green pea soup).