da_667I'm making chili today with dried beans I soaked overnight. I let them soak and tasted one this morning and its sort of crunchy, but not rock hard. I'm thinking I should give them a boil before I put them in the pot to soften them up to the consistency I'm used to.
I've never done this before. I've always used canned beans, and I don't have that luxury anymore because the canned beans are LOADED with salt.
Allan Chow@da_667 i see your problem. Beans.
Josh Bressers@da_667 I've always struggled with dried beans, until I got an instapot
Sometimes they would be great, sometimes they would be super tough. I have no idea what the trick to soaking is
But the pressure cooker has been solid for me every time
1 cup of dried beans, 2.5 cups of water and about 16 minutes does the trick. I do let it cool down so add an extra 30ish minutes to the total time
@joshbressers this matches up to some research I read. on average at sea level, soaked beans will take about 45 minutes to cook properly.
@da_667 Minus that whole soaking thing. I'm too forgetful to remember to soak beans overnight :)
Neo Ehproque@da_667 wow, that's in America, right?
@ehproque yeah. for example, a can of dark red kidney beans from wal-mart, 260mg of sodium. Which, you think "eh, that's not terrible." but then, I dump two full cans of beans into my pot for chili. each can has 3.5 servings. 260*7=1,820mg sodium. The daily recommended value of sodium per day is 2300mg.
Now given, I won't eat ALL of the chili in one sitting, but salt reduction is very important to me.
So, to get around this, either you get fresh beans and soak/cook them in advance, or you look for "no salt added" and that goes from 260mg a serving to like, 10mg. So, 70mg of sodium for 2 cans, instead of 1800.
@da_667 I complain about not being able to buy any low salt cooked stuff in the UK but at least kidney beans are 40mg per can. If beans are such a big issue you may want to invest in big freezer and batch cook them, as they freeze very well
Lysander il breve@da_667
Bruh it might still go wrong because destiny is a bitch, but prepare to be ASTONISHED by the difference in texture and I would say also flavour depth of dried beans.
It's a chore to soak them (some varieties I leave overnight, but there are a few that soaking in the morning and changing water at lunch will do for cooking at night) but man do they taste goood
Bruh it might still go wrong because destiny is a bitch, but prepare to be ASTONISHED by the difference in texture and I would say also flavour depth of dried beans.
It's a chore to soak them (some varieties I leave overnight, but there are a few that soaking in the morning and changing water at lunch will do for cooking at night) but man do they taste goood
@lysander I'm hoping I cook these things correctly. I just want them to be tender when I have my chili this evening.
@da_667
There's going to be some trial and error for sure, but I would suggest around one hour of boiling, if you like them tender. If you overcook them they disintegrate but hey, even a chili spread is still chili 😁
There's going to be some trial and error for sure, but I would suggest around one hour of boiling, if you like them tender. If you overcook them they disintegrate but hey, even a chili spread is still chili 😁
Dave Wilburn 
Dry beans need to be cooked. Soaking is sorta optional, but you'll have to cook them for way longer if you don't. You need to bring them to a hard boil for a few minutes before reducing them to a simmer.
Kidney beans and their close relatives need special care because they have a higher amount of toxins. You need to have them on a hard boil for at least 10 minutes before reducing them to a simmer.
Alternatively you can just do what I do, skip the soaking, and throw the dry beans and water into an instant pot or other pressure cooker. I usually set it for 40 minutes of high pressure and wait for it to naturally release.
I usually like to cook my beans with a bit of celery, carrot, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, cayenne, and a splash of olive oil. The stock at the end is pretty great, too.
@DaveMWilburn and now, I have a new recipe for preparing beans. Thanks!
By the way, if you're looking for bougie dry beans, I recommend Rancho Gordo.
They also have a bean club with a nearly year long wait list to join. They ship you a huge box of their selection of beans every quarter.
K. Reid Wightman 
🌻 
@da_667 we usually buy dried beans now. soak them, then boil them (we use an instant pot/pressure cooker). once cooked we freeeze them. freeze them in a flattened ziploc bag and it is super easy to break off a chunk of frozen beans to throw into whatever you’re cooking. works great for chickpeas, too.
IrishMASMS@da_667 funny I've always used dry beans
Interesting how we each grew up & evolved
Detmar