How to prepare dried beans

Yield: 4 servings

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1. Rinse the beans and examine them for stones, dirt, debris, etc.

2. Soak beans. Here you have a choice: (a) place them in water equal to five times the volume of the beans and let them soak for eight to 10 hours; or (b) place them in a pot ov water to cover by two inches and bring them to a boil, cook for two minutes, cover and soak for one hour. 3. Drain the beans and rinse them in tap water. 4.

Put the beans in a pot with water to cover by two or three inches.

Bring to a boil and cook at a low boil until the beans are tender, adding water as needed. The beans should be covered, with the lid tilted slightly to allow steam to escape. It will take from 40 minutes to two hours. The bad news is that you cannot know how long it will take. The good news is that you can cook them in advance for most any recipe for dried beans and reheat them in the appropriate seasonings. 5. Add salt to the beans, if desired, only toward the end of the cooking time. Salt and many other seasonings increase the cooking time and can prevent the beans from softeneing. 6. Also, ahem, there is the matter of digestive discomfort that is sometimes associated with the consumption of dried legumes. There is respected authority opinion to the effect that the problem is caused by certain oligosaccharides in the vegetable. Water reduces the level of oligosaccharide. Therefore, some believe that longer soaking with changes of water will help. It is frequently suggested that the addition of bocarbonate of soda to the cooking water will lower the level potential offensiveness. Unfortunately, both water and bicarbonate of soda leach nutrients and protein from the beans, though an eighth of a teaspoon of soda per cup of water is not believed to cause a sugnificant loss. In any case, individuals differ greatly in their response to the intake of dried beans and if one has a real problem perhaps one should have something else instead. 7. The amount of water used to cook dried beans plays a surprising role.

According to Harold McGee in "On Food and Cooking" (Collier, 1984), beans absorb more water when they are cooked in less. Therefore, for maximum absorption, it's best to start with less water than the recipe calls for and then to add more as the beans cook. [Quoted from Jane Adams Finn] [The Washington Post; January 4, 1995] Posted by Fred Peters.

Submitted By FRED PETERS On 02-14-95

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