Dec 20, 2024 by HTV9
Beans, or as I see them, the sadist of the kitchen. Superfood, really good for you, and absolute nightmare to cook. I had this idea of combining all the softening methods for beans I’d heard of into one and it worked to make the total cook time 1 hour, including the time it took to bring the pots up to the boil, which was about 15 to 20 minutes. It is still not very accessible for someone with limited mobility, but it is a little easier than the usual methods. Here are the steps:
1. Pour out the beans on a baking dish. I used 2 cups or so. Discard any beans that have holes in them, any rocks or grit, weird bits of grass, etc. I poured them directly out of the dish into a big bowl and regret that, since some weird bits of grass wanted to migrate over so I’ll pick them out of the dish handful by handful next time.
2. Cover them in lots of tap water. Discard any beans that float to the surface using a slotted spoon. Swish them around, drain it.
3. Distribute the beans into containers that won’t affect their flavor. Since they’re headed to an 8 to 12 hour soak they’ll take on the flavor of what they’re soaked in. I skipped a stainless steel bowl in favor of three glass containers with plastic lids available, but left the lids off. Ceramic would also work as would a bunch of glass jars. So, making sure there’ enough room for three (ideally four) times the volume of water as of beans, distribute them into enough soaking vessels for that purpose. Top with that much water and put those in the fridge. Soak those overnight.
4. In the morning, pour the beans into a strainer and let that water go into the sink. Then set the strainer over a bowl. Wait half an hour. Yes, this step is important. Softens the beans more. Save that strainer, you’ll need it relatively clean later
5. In however many nonstick, cast-iron, or enameled cast iron pots you need (ideally, I’d have used an 8- to 10-cup nonstick pot, but we don’t have one yet), or stainless steel if that’s all you have, bring all that to a boil in at least 3 and preferably 5 times as much water, by volume as you have beans. You can estimate the volume. You have to sit around waiting for it to boil, and don’t cover it. Or it will boil over like mine did. Ugh, beans.
6. Continue to boil it for at least 1 minute. 2 minutes is enough. Turn off the heat, then when it stops threatening to boil over put lids on it. Wait an hour. This is the “quick soak” method you’ve probably heard about. Yes, this step is important too.
7. Last stretch, and this is important: drain the beans in the strainer, then put them back in the pots and cover them with at least 3, preferably 5 times as much water by volume as beans. Bring that back to a boil, which will take about 20 minutes, then add the seasonings you want because they’ll be done in 40 minutes tops. Maybe 30. I used, per pot, a few grinds of black pepper, a bay leaf, and about half a teaspoon of onion powder. Each pot is about 1 and a half cups’ worth of cooked beans. Check on it when you can, and when they’re done, add as much salt as you want. Let them sit there and absorb the salt, which will take like 10 minutes, and you can do whatever you want with them. Any leftovers can go into containers and get stored in the fridge.
New Book of Days 
Leave a comment