The nice thing about beans is once you get the hang of it, they are pretty forgiving and a fun canvas on which to experiment/clean out the refrigerator.
― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Thursday, 19 August 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link
Curious about the motivations for going with dry beans. Are you using them to save on a bit of money?
― wildleee questionable baking substitutions (Leee), Thursday, 19 August 2021 05:51 (two years ago) link
nothing like that really. a friend made scratch beans at a cookout recently & they were so good & the recipe sounded so simple that i decided to try my hand
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 19 August 2021 06:14 (two years ago) link
i also just remembered theres a stand at my farmers market that sells dried beans, i might hit them up
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 19 August 2021 06:15 (two years ago) link
Beans cooked from dry taste much better than canned.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Thursday, 19 August 2021 06:20 (two years ago) link
Some bean revelations:
I made real baked beans this winter using Yellow Eye beans. The recipe is dead simple - they cook for like 5 hours. I'm not a big baked bean person, but these were so good. Smoky, sweet, rich, savory. Perfect with meatloaf and other childhood nostalgia meals.
The Royal Corona beans on RG are unusually giant white beans. Rich, creamy insides with pretty thick skins and a distinctive taste and aroma. Cook them, drain them, and make a room temp salad with chopped celery, parsley, red onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and good quality tuna packed in oil (drained first). I made this for lunch a couple times this year. Absolutely everything I want in a meal and very healthy.
― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Thursday, 19 August 2021 11:17 (two years ago) link
huge fan of dried beans here, that is all
― sleeve, Thursday, 19 August 2021 15:07 (two years ago) link
canned beans are shit compared to dry
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 19 August 2021 19:33 (two years ago) link
although both destroy my insides and so i rarely touch them nowadays :'(
I'm convinced and just ordered the Royal Corona beans! Along with 3 others. Your recipe with the parsley and tuna won me over.
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, 19 August 2021 20:15 (two years ago) link
that sounds so good.
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Thursday, 19 August 2021 20:20 (two years ago) link
OK I've tried dried beans a few times -- black beans were pretty much fine but the chickpeas had a brittle texture I didn't like -- but yall are making me rethink my assumptions!
― wildleee questionable baking substitutions (Leee), Thursday, 19 August 2021 21:51 (two years ago) link
Brittle beans sound undercooked. Need low and slow until fully done, and then they are great
― "Rocky Top" and "Funky Bitch" are songs I never look forward to (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 19 August 2021 21:54 (two years ago) link
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, August 19, 2021 4:15 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
Yah! Hope you enjoy them!
Chickpeas are the one bean that you absolutely have to soak overnight. Even so they can take longer to cook than other beans. The nice thing is if you are using them for a spread where keeping them whole doesn't matter, you cannot over cook them (in fact it's better).
― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Thursday, 19 August 2021 22:27 (two years ago) link
i got a bag of the royal coronas last time i was in a store that sells RG stuff! maybe i'll make them next week. many years ago i went to a long-gone restaurant that served pork ribs with a giant corona bean salad and i really loved that dish.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 19 August 2021 23:30 (two years ago) link
You pretty much gotta pressure cook chickpeas. Otherwise, it takes forever to get them tender.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Friday, 20 August 2021 00:18 (two years ago) link
not true. I made Ottolenghi's hummus recipe awhile back. Soaked chickpeas get cooked over medium heat with baking soda for a few minutes. added water and brought to a boil. they were super tender in 20 minutes or so
― scampos sacra fames (outdoor_miner), Friday, 20 August 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
his other tricks in that recipe, which was by far the best hummus i've ever made, included a slightly higher ratio of tahini (which i sort of already always did), and throwing in some ice water while food processor was running.
― scampos sacra fames (outdoor_miner), Friday, 20 August 2021 19:28 (two years ago) link
The method in the Zahav cookbook uses ice water (a pretty good amount), except you whisk it into the tehina sauce with your lemon, garlic and seasonings, then season the chickpeas with the sauce.
― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Friday, 20 August 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link
i haven't seen that book but that sounds interesting (and couterintuitive)but i found that hummus recipe online somewhere last year, probably here: https://www.seriouseats.com/basic-hummus-from-jerusalem-ottolenghi
― scampos sacra fames (outdoor_miner), Friday, 20 August 2021 19:47 (two years ago) link
Even weirder is you don't have to peel the garlic because you blend it with lemon and salt and then strain it before adding the tahini.
― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Friday, 20 August 2021 20:04 (two years ago) link
forgot about that silliness. guess i'll try it that way next time, but i just peeled the **cking garlic last time
― scampos sacra fames (outdoor_miner), Friday, 20 August 2021 20:40 (two years ago) link
I support any recipe that circumvents peeling the garlic
― "Rocky Top" and "Funky Bitch" are songs I never look forward to (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 20 August 2021 20:54 (two years ago) link
YOU GUYSi achieved very delicious beans! thx to PKBR for the hand-holding instructions upthread. i followed them & magic did indeed happen! though: while I did acquire rancho gordo beans & now know where i can buy them locally, i will be seeking out other local options vis farmers market etc because $6 for a pound of dried beans is um…crazy?
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 01:08 (two years ago) link
I just made a batch of baked beans for Labor Day supper using fairly ordinary small white beans, but of course baking them with onion, tomato & molasses means that the underlying taste of the beans is a negligible factor in the resulting deliciousness. Their 'tooth' is the more important factor. Should be slightly firm but very yielding. The canned stuff is just awful.
― it is to laugh, like so, ha! (Aimless), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 01:16 (two years ago) link
Lol dried beans at my farmers market are $10 a pound! So I get Rancho Gordo and congratulate myself on my thriftiness!
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 04:26 (two years ago) link
yeah even though i can afford it that's kind of the reason i have never bought them. i know they are great but idk. even organic beans from the bulk section of the store near me are like $3 at most. i usually get them from the indian or mexican store and they come out fine. someday i will get some and compare.
― criminally negligible (harbl), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 13:23 (two years ago) link
congrats on your beans vg! that's how i felt when i perfected my black beans. they are exactly as i like them!
re shopping: i go a store that sells a high volume of beans and buy the non-Goya brand, usually $1.19/lb. people pay $10 per pound of beans?!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 16:17 (two years ago) link
I like the El Mexicano beans I get at the store. Rancho does have a few varieties that are harder to find though. I love their hominy, for example.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
(Yes, I know hominy isn't beans)
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 16:37 (two years ago) link
Made the lentil recipe that someone linked here ages ago: https://www.daringgourmet.com/misir-wat-ethiopian-spiced-red-lentils/
Don’t know why I don’t make it more often, I added carrots and diced yam with the garlic/tomato/berbere, and left out the additional salt, and it turned out great.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 8 September 2021 02:31 (two years ago) link
VG, congrats on the delicious beans! Sorry about the Rancho Gordo stan-ing. Their main benefits are probably freshness and variety, but I'm sure the same can be achieved from other sources as well.
I am making baked beans today with yellow-eye beans I simmered yesterday. They cook for 5 more hours in the oven at 250 degrees!
― Taliban! (PBKR), Thursday, 9 September 2021 13:20 (two years ago) link
Haha! It takes a special kind of bean stan to appreciate something that has to cook for 7 hours and at the end it's still a bean. I appreciate that. I made chili with some of my RG yellow beans last week and it was good chili but didn't really showcase the beans. I'll have to go and think about what I've done and mend my ways for the next recipe.
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, 9 September 2021 13:36 (two years ago) link
Certainly the more non-bean stuff that's in a bean recipe, the harder it will be to appreciate any subtle bean differences and the harder it is to justify paying a higher price.
― Taliban! (PBKR), Thursday, 9 September 2021 13:42 (two years ago) link
roll that beautiful bean footage!
― criminally negligible (harbl), Thursday, 9 September 2021 14:14 (two years ago) link
I am excited about the following dried varieties in our pantry:
Peruvian yellow beansred Salvadoran beansWhipple beans, a rare heirloom
― sleeve, Thursday, 9 September 2021 15:21 (two years ago) link
― JoeStork, Tuesday, September 7, 2021 10:31 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
this may have been me, i have made this a bunch of times and love it. i think i will make it tonight, in fact. i also put sweet potatoes in it if i have them. i have an actual mesir wat recipe but this is easier.
― criminally negligible (harbl), Thursday, 9 September 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
actually making it now, i made some chicken stock today (no celery or carrots because i don't like how it makes it taste too vegetable-y when making things like this). i need to get more berbere and store it better. gets kind of oxidized and loses the nice berbere smell.
― criminally negligible (harbl), Sunday, 12 September 2021 23:26 (two years ago) link
made the mozza at home lasagna, complete with bechamel, and enjoyed it. nancy has a dried arbol chile, bay leaves, and half of an onion in the butter/flour/milk while you make it. you take that stuff out later, but I think it results in an excellent flavor. wonder if it could win some anti-bechamels over. probably not.
― balance transfer eligible (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
i made mapo tofu last night, w/impossible beef
good stuff
― gbx, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
yeah have made it successfully with beanfeast before, so a decent meat substitute would be perfect
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 19:11 (two years ago) link
Idk if I’m just late to the party or if this is a well kept secret but: placing a lil dish of water on the cutting board while you chop an onion prevents it from making your eyes water.
― just1n3, Tuesday, 19 October 2021 14:27 (two years ago) link
o really? i had to slice 6 onions the other day and used my child's swimming goggles as my eyes have been extra sensitive recently! not exactly comfortable but did the trick!
― kinder, Tuesday, 19 October 2021 15:10 (two years ago) link
I can’t remember the science exactly but it’s something about the thing that causes the stinging is hydrophilic and your eyes are usually the closest source of water so if you place another water source closer to the onion, your eyes won’t be affected.
I tried it last night and not a single tear was shed!
― just1n3, Tuesday, 19 October 2021 15:16 (two years ago) link
hmm, might try that. yeah the source of the stinging is whatever substance in onions coming into contact with the water in your eyes and turning into acid
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 16:51 (two years ago) link
Are some people less disposed to onion tears? Cutting them rarely ever bothers me, and I don't do anything special. Maybe because I wear contact lenses?
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
yes, contact lenses help
― John Lakeman gives pipe lecture (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 18:32 (two years ago) link
I buy sweet onions (vidalia, peru, maui) over "storage" varieties pretty exclusively and never get the tears.
― Profiles in Liquid Courage (WmC), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 20:13 (two years ago) link
Contact lenses are absolutely protective. Whenever I cut onions in just glasses I am amazed at the difference.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 21:49 (two years ago) link
Maybe this question is better on the Instant Pot thread, but apropos of the previous BEANS talk: if I have a full recipe for, say, chili but instead of canned, I use dried beans, would I just add all of the ingredients (veggies, other beans, etc.) and then set the pressure cooking to however long it'd take to cook the dried beans?
And as a followup, the beans I'd be cooking from dry in this recipe are supposed to disintegrate to thicken the chili, so I'd reckon that I'd need to add more pressure cooking time in addition to just cooking them?
― Nelleee Hooper (Leee), Wednesday, 17 November 2021 23:00 (two years ago) link