QUESTION re: cooking with dried beans

So I usually use canned beans but I decided to try dried beans. Hell, I figured I got nothing but time so I'd give it a try.

I bought a pound of black beans and a pound of red kidney beans. I looked up the quick-soak method and gave the red kidney beans a try for a stew I was making. The directions were: rinse and pick over beans, bring beans to a boil in lots of water. Boil for 2 minutes. Cover and wait 1-4 hours.

An hour later, the beans were still hard. So, I left them in the pot with the water overnight and they were still hard this morning.

What am I missing?

TIA

That's just step 1 -- you still have to cook them! Depending on their age, that could take another several hours.

(Before cooking, you either must soak them overnight in room-temp water, or do what you did -- a quick boil and shorter soak in the hot water.)

That "boil and soak" is suggested to reduce gas from eating the beans.  You still have to cook them, using whichever recipe for dried beans that you're using.  

If you want to use the cooked beans in a recipe the way you use canned beans, put the beans in new water, to cover by about three inches, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer.  Check them after 30 minutes, to see if they're getting tender, then 15 minutes at a time after that.

The amount of water doesn't matter, so much as just making sure there's enough to keep them covered.  Drain and reserve the liquid (to use for water in whatever recipe you're making).  The beans can then be used like canned beans.

Thanks vey much.

At what point do I add them to my stew? After I've cooked them as per nohero's suggestions above? And do I cook them alone or with herbs, spices, garlic, etc.?

After you've cooked the beans, you can use them in your recipes as a substitute for the canned beans.

Your choice if you want to add herbs, etc. while they cook.  You may want to toss in a pinch of salt for maybe the last 15 minutes of cooking them, before you drain, etc.

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Thanks vey much.

At what point do I add them to my stew? After I've cooked them as per nohero's suggestions above? And do I cook them alone or with herbs, spices, garlic, etc.?

 You can add a dry bay leaf or two while cooking.(A Peruvian cook did this) A Mexican cook taught me to add an onion while cooking and insisted that I use a clay pot, both were adamant about using black beans. It's when they are cooked you add them to your stew. I always forget about the beans and burn them so canned organic is my go to.

I add them to sauteed chopped onion, after they are translucent you can add thin slices of baby portabella mushroom, white ones are fine as well, then after they get going toss in some baby spinach., you can finally add some crushed canned tomatoes and then the beans. Add crushed red pepper for heat.

I came up with this because I've been following part of the GBOMBS nutritarian diet. Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds or nuts.  The first 4 go into the stew.  To make me happy I often put it over one of the veggie pastas.

Joel Fuhrman explains the benefits of these food groups in his book Eat To Live. I haven't read it but I've seen him on channel 13. He explains what each ingredient works for.  It sounded like something that I could integrate into my menu without much work. 

Of course I'd be much happier guzzling coffee and nibbling on dark chocolate.

If you’re using dried beans, after the soak, but before the long simmer/cooking, you MUST boil them for a minimum of 10 minutes.  Rolling boil.  If you simmer them without boiling them then you can actually increase the potency of the toxin they contain

Canned beans don’t have this issue as the toxin is cooked out of them before canning

spontaneous said:

If you’re using dried beans, after the soak, but before the long simmer/cooking, you MUST boil them for a minimum of 10 minutes.  Rolling boil.  If you simmer them without boiling them then you can actually increase the potency of the toxin they contain

Canned beans don’t have this issue as the toxin is cooked out of them before canning

 Yipes!  Okay! Rolling boil as we speak!

toxins?

now it's getting interesting!

It won’t kill you, you’ll just wish you were dead until it passes.  Symptoms are extreme nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.  As few as 5 uncooked or improperly cooked kidney beans can cause a reaction.  It passes in a few hours, the overwhelming majority of cases not needing hospitalization

I’ve never had it, thank god, but I cook with a lot of dried beans so I know about cooking them properly to negate the toxin.  Other types of beans also have this toxin, but not in the amounts that red kidney beans do

And don’t let this scare you, dried beans are a great pantry staple, cost less than canned, and have less packaging.  Just remember to boil beans.  If dried they need to be boiled for 30 minutes, if pre-soaked (overnight or the quick 2 hour hot water soak like you did) then they only need to be boiled for 10 minutes

that's interesting. had never heard that. And after politics, the next topic I probably read the most about is food/cooking. Odd that I never saw that before.

apparently it's red kidney beans that has the most of the toxin.

as for dried beans, I've got an Instant Pot, so I use that for the beans.