Cookingt dried beans

[WendyS]

Is there a secret to cooking dried beans (haricots, butter beans etc) to get them nice and floury inside?
Whenever I cook them I seem to end up with miserable hard offerings, even when I soak them overnight first. I realise that some might be slightly old, as I store them in glass jars and generally only used them in colder months, but I wonder whether steaming or microwaving them in water would produce a better result than simply just simmering them.

[nickmo]

Hi WS - don't add acids to the cooking water 'til the end - this affects the quality of the result i.e tomato, vinegar. A drop of oil in the cooking water may help too - this cuts out some of the 'foaming' you can get from the boiling/simmer.

Also, change the soaking water a couple of times which may help. Pulses and beans last just about forever if stored in an airtight container, but are probably best scoffed within a year.

Wouldn't suggest microwaving them - hob, oven or slow cooker is best - depending on recipe. Steaming may also not give the nice texture you want as being too rapid. a pressure cooker will work, but make sure the pan never gets dry......

Now, altogether...''Beans, beans, the musical fruit..." you know how it goes..!

[lia*]

Wendy S,

I cook beans all the time and they always come out perfect. This is how I cook them:

I soak them overnight in water. Next day I rinse them and use fresh water to cook them in. I put them in a pressure cooker with whatever spices and seasoning I choose, and water about 3 inches above beans. In 15 or 20 minutes I have perfectly cooked beans. If by any chance they are not soft enough when you finish pressuring, put it back to pressure for few minutes again. Make sure you have enough liquid in the pot. If after pressuring and you find the liquid is too much, you can take the lid off the pot and let the liquid boil down to your likings.

cheers!

[WendyS]

Thanks both of you. I do have a pressure cooker lia* although I haven't used it much lately because generally we've been cooking our home grown veggies for the minimum time necessary just to get them al dente.
However I suspect you're right in that dried beans probably cook better when done under pressure. I'm particularly fond of butter beans in mixed salads, so will dig my "old faithful" back out from the farthest corner of the cupboard.

[gherkinfiend]

make sure you don't add any salt when boiling them after the soaking...this makes them go all nasty and only useful for pea-shooters!