Cooking Cheap

I love reading about things I’ve never tried and that show the old wives tales to be myths. People are swearing alliegience to a new (to me) cooking technique for beans. Read the eGullet forum for all the details (it’ll take you some time).

I have nothing to add to their conversation except some redundent “me too” observations about freshness, soaking, salting. I have made a lot of beans and I’ve never found a reason to soak overnight, or to use the quick soak method or to just simmer the things. Their experiments say the the same thing. No real advantage. Since I’ve never found one to be better either, I just use whichever fits my schedule.

Salt I’ve alway added at the end because that’s what every book says to do, so I do that. Sounds like thats wrong. Cover on or cover off? Lid on. They cook much faster with less risk of burning from too high a flame to maintain a simmer with an open pot. I’ve learned that.

In the oven or on the stove top. The new wisdom says in the oven at 250F. People are claiming doneness in an hour and 15 minutes!!! They taste better and needed less salt.

The basic idea, for those who won’t read all the forum messages, bring your water to a boil, add salt and beans, bring back to a boil. Cover and put in a 250F oven, checking every half hour for water and doneness.

Most of my bean work is refritos and you need cool or cold well cooked beans (next day is better, some say) so let them cool for an hour or two. That’s a 5 hour cook my way (Quick soak for an hour, 2 or 3 on the stove, and cool). This technique, if it works for me, would cut that time in half and free up the stove top. It also explains something I’ve seen with my Baked BBQ bean recipe.