Basic Dried Beans

Total Time: 8 hrs 1 min Preparation Time: 1 min Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried beans (your favorite)
• 10 cups water

Recipe

• 1 note: lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas do not need to be soaked.
• 2 pick through the beans, discarding any discolored or shriveled beans or any foreign matter.
• 3 rinse well.
• 4 traditional slow soak: in a 5-quart saucepan, cover 1 pound dried beans with 10 cups water.
• 5 cover tightly and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.
• 6 drain and rinse the beans.
• 7 hot soak: in a 5-quart saucepan, bring 10 cups water to a boil.
• 8 add 1 pound dried beans and return to a boil.
• 9 remove from the heat; cover tightly and set aside at room temperature 2-3 hours.
• 10 drain and rinse the beans.
• 11 quick soak: in a 5-quart saucepan, bring 10 cups water to a boil.
• 12 add 1 pound dried beans and return to a boil; let boil 2-3 minutes.
• 13 cover tightly and set aside at room temperature 1 hour.
• 14 drain and rinse the beans.
• 15 gas-free soak: (the best method for gas-free beans, developed by the california dry bean advisory board.) in a 5-quart sauce- pan, place 1 pound of beans in 10 or more cups of boiling water; boil for 2-3 minutes, cover and set aside overnight.
• 16 by morning, 75 to 90 percent of the indigestible sugars will have dissolved into the soaking water.
• 17 drain, then rinse the beans thoroughly before cooking them.
• 18 cooking beans: when cooking beans, do not add salt or acidic ingredients, like vinegar, tomatoes or juice- which slow the cooking substantially; add these ingredients when the beans are just tender.
• 19 cooking times vary with the types of beans used but also may vary with their age.
• 20 beans are done when they can be easily mashed between two fingers or with a fork.
• 21 always test a few beans in case they have not cooked evenly.
• 22 return the soaked, rinsed beans to the 5-quart saucepan.
• 23 cover the beans with 3 times their volume of water.
• 24 add herbs or spices (not salt), as desired.
• 25 bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender (the time will depend on the type of bean, but start checking after 45-60 minutes).
• 26 do not boil them since this will break the skins.
• 27 check the level of the water and add more if it gets low.
• 28 when the beans are tender, drain and use in recipes; or for later use, immerse them in cold water until cool, then drain well and freeze in 1- to 2-cup packages.
• 29 one pound of dried beans will yield about 5 or 6 cups cooked beans.
• 30 pressure cooking: this is one of the quickest ways to cook beans.
• 31 after you've soaked 1/2 pound of beans, place them in a 4-quart pressure cooker with 4 cups water.
• 32 cook at 15 pounds pressure following the manufacturer's directions for the type of legume you are cooking.