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Last weekend, I used dried pinto beans for the first time. And actually, other than a brief flirtation with cannellini beans during college and the occasional lentil soup or salad, my experience with dried beans is nil. When I was growing up, we were more of a canned bean family and so the idea of cooking with dried beans just never really crossed my mind.
However, over the last few months (or so) I've been seeing lots of people write about using dried beans. The Pioneer Woman did it (and paired them with cornbread). The Gluten-Free Girl described beans in delicious detail. And Luisa, the Wednesday Chef, did amazing things with giant white lima beans.
Bolstered by their seemingly delicious successes, I decided to try it for myself. I actually had a jar of pinto beans on the highest shelf in my kitchen, so that seemed like a good enough place to start. I took my inspiration from Ree's recipe, reducing it at bit because I had a scant three cups of beans (and she used four generous cups). I rinsed the beans, picking them over to make sure there weren't any pebbles or foreign bits. Deeming them sufficiently cleaned, I poured them into my 5-quart dutch oven and filled the pot so that the water came about two inches over the beans. I added a chopped onion, a couple of cloves of minced garlic and, after much internal debate, decided to add the suggested bacon. I settled the pot on the large back burner of my stove and let it simmer for a little more than two hours (I did add some salt and pepper around the end of hour one).
I was astounded by how delicious those beans were. They were miles away from the canned ones in terms of taste and texture. That first night I ate them over sauteed swiss chard (with a side of Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips). The next night a friend came over for dinner and so reheated some of the beans and served them over short grain brown rice with homemade salsa fresca and a green salad. We both ate until we were stuffed because it all tasted so good.
So if you're like me, and have little experience cooking with dried beans, try starting out with a pot of long-simmered pinto beans. I think you'll find you become an instant convert!
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7-17-2008 @10:54AM Dana said... I converted to dried beans last year when I was put on a doctor ordered low-sodium diet. I have had great success substituting dried for canned in a wide number of receipes. It jsut takes a little more planning for soaking/coooking, but in the end, they work great in everything form salads to casseroles!
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7-17-2008 @11:57AM Scott Bassin said... AND... dried beans are incredibly cheap. Taste great, healthier, cheaper. All good things.
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7-17-2008 @12:22PM Big John said... Just two hours? Not bad. I always figured it would be worse. I work late, so it probably isn't a weekday thing for me.
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7-17-2008 @12:23PM Marisa McClellan said... They really are terrific. Big John, the thing to do is make up a big pot on the weekend and then eat them all week in an assortment of dishes. They keep for at least a week and reheat perfectly.
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7-17-2008 @12:29PM MJ said... I grew up on dried beans the tsate cant be beat and the price too! Its worth the time just takes some planning. Soaked overnight for pintos cuts the time in half. Dont forget the smoked or fresh ham hock!
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7-17-2008 @12:43PM kassie said... I love, love, love dried pinto beans. Bean nector is the greatest thing on earth.
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7-17-2008 @12:57PM Ian said... And don't forget you can portion them out and freeze them too. I think about 1.5 cups is close to a can of beans. If you're adding them to soup, you don't even need to defrost them.
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7-17-2008 @1:03PM Pyrofish said... I didn't know you could just simmer them. I thought you HAD to soak them. Is that just for when they are part of a recipe, like bean chili? I've always shyed away from them out of inexperience, but sure would like to jump into dried the bean world.
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7-20-2008 @12:53AM Carmen said... Dried Beans???? Growing up in a Mexican household, canned beans were never an option. You cannot beat the quality and taste of fresh beans. You don't have to soak them overnight like most recommend as that makes them even more mooshier. Then, if you drain that water and replace it with new water, you take away the majority of the nutrients; thus defeating the purpose.
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7-17-2008 @1:05PM Marisa McClellan said... Pyrofish, I always thought you had to soak them overnight as well, and while it does speed up cooking time, it is definitely not necessary. You can also use a slow cooker. Just put the beans, water and any other additions in the pot before you go to work, turn it on low and when you get home, the beans (with the addition of a little salt and pepper) are ready to go.
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7-17-2008 @1:37PM Carmen said... Soaking cuts down the cooking time by about 1 hour but when you go to reheat them, they are not as firm. Also, do not add salt until the beans are fully cooked, as my mother always said. You can add your garlic cloves or onions at the beginning for that extra flavor as well.
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7-17-2008 @2:50PM ann lemons said... When I cook about any kind of dried legume, I always throw in an onion. a clove of garlic and a bay leaf. I can remember eating navy (white) beans solo this way as an impoverished student and loving it.
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7-17-2008 @3:29PM Beth said... Your crock pot is your friend.
Rinse and pick over beans, put 2/3c. dried beans per quart of capacity in the crock pot between 8 and 10pm, along with salt/spices/onion or garlic to taste, and fill to just below the lid ridge with water or stock. By 8am the next morning, you have fully soaked, fully cooked beans ready to rinse and then use as you would canned beans in any dish.
Several times a month I make a pot of beans overnight, put half back in the pot with meat and veggies for chile or beans and rice or something similar to cook during the day, then put the rest in the fridge to use later in the week in a lighter dish. The crockpot method takes a lot of the nuisance waiting time out of the process!
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7-17-2008 @6:13PM sanman said... OK, so who's got a good baked bean recipe using dried beans? Most of the recipes I've seen online use canned beans and/or a crock pot...I'm looking for one using dried beans and a bean pot...
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7-17-2008 @6:15PM Marisa McClellan said... Sanman, Laurie Colwin has a really good recipe for baked beans in one of her books. I will look for it and post it if I find it.
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7-17-2008 @8:17PM Vitor Hugo said... Here in Brazil, dried beans are our diet basis with rice. It's really difficult find one home that lunch or dinner the family doesn't eat them.
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7-17-2008 @10:37PM Allison said... Actually, the soaking does a whole lot more nutritionally over and above reducing the cooking time. It helps in starting to sprout the beans, making more nutrients available to you. Just let them soak in the slow cooker overnight and turn it on in the morning. No need to rinse. Same goes for oatmeal soaking overnut, and especially nuts overnight before you toast them the next day. Your body will thank you right down to the cellular level.
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7-17-2008 @10:37PM Marisa McClellan said... Allison, thanks for the info, I didn't know that!
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7-17-2008 @10:48PM Jacki said... My recipe for baked beans -
soak cannellini beans overnight
drain beans, add to slow cooker
pour in about the same volume of chopped tomatoes (fresh is best, but canned works OK)
throw in a couple of whole peeled garlic cloves, chopped fresh sage, and season to taste (I usually throw in a couple of dried chillies, if you're that way inclined).
Slow cook for a couple of hours.
that's it!
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7-17-2008 @10:57PM Allison said... P.S. I don't know how to reply to you directly, Marissa, but a thought has been nagging at me for weeks now. I enjoy your blogs immensely. You give me tremendous inspiration that your generation is turning out better than I ever hoped -- mostly. I'd love to see your review of Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats." Of my over 50 linear feet of cookbooks, this is my most beloved, tattered and overflowing with sticky notes marking important pages and recipes -- nevertheless the well-documented nutritional information, and most revealing "Know Your Ingredients" segments. (Most of them prick your most cherished "can-you-believe-you-ever-believed-or-ate-this-crap traditions. It completely confirmed all the things I believed and practiced(think what your mother did; heck, I'm old enough to be your mother and followed all those same hippie precepts); has visibly improved my health and weight; and finally freed me of any PC crap that kept trying to tell me butter and chicken fat and eggs, and everything low-fat, fake-sugar anything was My Friend.
This book is so much more than recipes, however. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I'm sure there are probably some discounted copies available on amazon.com, but I've found most people REFUSE to part with their copy once they get their hands on it.
To yours -- and everyone who admires you -- good eating, good health, and happy lives.
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