Beans: dry vs. canned?

[mattdee1]

Hi:

I use beans fairly regularly in cooking (usually black and garbanzo), but I always use canned.

I'd say that about 95% of the time when I cook, it's for 2 or 1, so I tend to "fly by the seat of my pants" when figuring out what to make. This makes dry beans tough for me, because they take so much forethought and time with the soaking in water and all that.

I'm looking for comments from those of you who are familiar with both canned and dry; specifically, how "worth it" is it to go the long route? All comments welcome.

Thanks
Matt

 

[mattdee1]

Oops, wrong sub-forum...

 

[GotGarlic]

You will get a variety of opinions on this For me, it's not worth the trouble. Cooks Illustrated recently did a taste test of cannellini beans and determined that canned were better because the manufacturers use higher quality beans to start with and the dried product can be many months old before someone buys and uses them, so they didn't cook as reliably. But others feel differently.

 

[mattdee1]

Interesting. How about the salt that (usually) gets added to canned goods? When I eat canned beans, I don't think they taste "salty", but then again, I never thought canned peas tasted salty either until I tried "low sodium" canned peas and they were the most bland, flavorless mush I've ever eaten.

That experience leads me to believe that the canning process "colors" the flavor greatly, even if the saltiness isn't blatantly obvious at first.

So you're saying that even with the necessary evils of canned goods and these sorts of additives, they can still rival beans prepared from dry, even though with the latter you get full control of what goes into the food?

 

[Aunt Bea]

I use both.

I tend to use the canned beans in the summer months and the dried beans in the winter. When I cook up a batch of dried beans I use the extra broth/cooking liquid to make a small pot of soup.

When I cook beans from scratch I always cook extra and freeze them in two cup containers. The frozen ones are just as convenient, for me, as the canned ones.

Do some experimenting and see what works best for your situation.

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm not sensitive to salt, so that doesn't bother me. In fact, I'm a salt fiend - I love crunchy kosher salt and flavored salts. While you can control the amount of salt added when you cook them yourself, I think most people will agree that beans need to be seasoned with salt in order to taste their best. Whether I do that myself or the manufacturer does it isn't a big deal to me.

I also don't think canned goods are evil in any way. They taste good and they're good for you. For me, canned beans are handy and I'm not concerned about the calcium carbonate and salt added to them. Cooks Illustrated magazine, from America's Test Kitchen, came to the same conclusion. I've used dried-bean and pea mixes for soups and often end up with blown-out or undercooked pieces and I'm not crazy about that. Other people feel differently and that's okay.

If you want to use dried beans in a shorter amount of time, there are two ways you can go:
- You can "quick-soak" the beans: cover dried beans with water, bring to a boil, and boil for one minute, then turn off the heat and let them sit, covered, for one hour. Drain and continue with your recipe.
- Get a pressure cooker and cook them with that.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I'm with Aunt Bea.
We use both.
I love black beans and most every time we make them, they come from a can. We doctor them up with sofrito to give them an ethnic taste. Cuban style to exact.

We also make dry pinto, 15 bean and great northern.
These are cooked with smoked ham hocks or smoked turkey parts and are the main meal when served.
The black beans i mention above are served over rice as a side dish.

We freeze leftover cooked beans (not the canned) in three persons serving size.
Its real nice to be able to have homemade beans and some good bread in a jiffy.

They both are good and using both would be my suggestion.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I make up a batch of beans once a week to have on hand for quick, inexpensive lunches. I'd say that about 90% of the time I use dried beans.

I really don't find there to be that much planning involved. Before I go to bed on Saturday night, I put the beans in a pot and cover with cold, salted water. When I get up Sunday morning, I drain and rinse them, and replace with fresh salted water. Then I simmer them on low until done (depending on the type of bean, this can take anywhere from one to two hours). While they're cooking, I have my breakfast and do some work around the house. You don't have to hover over the pot or stir very often.

Once they are cooked, you can add or do anything you want to them, or just store them in the fridge. Sometimes I add meat; sometimes not. I almost always add some sauteed aromatics, such as onions, garlic, chopped bell pepper, tomato (just don't add tomato before cooking them), etc. I like the seasonings pretty simple.

I have nothing against canned beans, per se. But I do find the texture to be somewhat mushy compared to dry cooked beans.

 

[Andy M.]

Salt in canned beans shouldn't be an issue since the first thing you do eith dried beans is to add water and salt.

I recommend you prepare the same recipe twice. Once with dried beans and again with canned beans and compare the results. Only you can decide if the difference is worth it for you.

 

[forty_caliber]

Undoubtedly prefer to cook them rather than buy canned. Much less expensive to buy the dry product and I can control how they are seasoned.

A pressure cooker can take a lot of the time out of cooking beans. There is even a method to cook unsoaked beans in one. This will cook the beans and make them tender but at the risk of splitting some of them in the process.

There is also a method to "quick soak" beans by boiling the soaking water and pouring that over the beans instead of cold water. Takes around 2-3 hours that way.

Soaking the beans for 24 hours in the fridge can help lessen the effects of the "musical fruitiness" often associated with beans.

Just my 3 cents.

.40

 

[buckytom]

You will get a variety of opinions on this For me, it's not worth the trouble. Cooks Illustrated recently did a taste test of cannellini beans and determined that canned were better because the manufacturers use higher quality beans to start with and the dried product can be many months old before someone buys and uses them, so they didn't cook as reliably. But others feel differently.

cool, addie was right about the better quality beans being used for canning.

i use both as well. on the lesser common occasion that i have the time to both plan a recipe that calls for it AND soak the beans, i will do so (like making chili... lol ). otherwise, i use canned for reasons of convenience and creativity.

also, i usually rinse that mucilaginous goo from a can of beans unless the dish i'm making needs to be thickened.

 

[bakechef]

There are lots of good canned beans and I'll go for the can a lot of the time, it's just easy. The only time I do dried is when I'm making baked beans, or occasionally a soup.

I grew up eating yellow eye beans for baked beans, but in these parts they are considered a "gourmet" item and are quite pricey, so I usually go with navy or great northern.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I used canned now, only cooking for two and don't want the extra leftovers. Also helps with portion control. Limited free time for cooking is also in the mix.

 

[Zhizara]

I use canned beans for butter beans and doctor it up to include kielbasa. I also use a can of chili beans to add to my taco meat when converting it to chili, because I like the flavor of the sauce.

Other than that, I love to make a pot of beans. I regularly make large limas, baby limas, 15 bean and split peas.

 

[CWS4322]

I use dry. I usually will soak 3 or 4 different kinds (900 or so grams, separately) and then cook them a batch at a time in the pressure cooker on the weekend as I'm doing other things. I then freeze them in 2 c and 1 c batches. That way, I always have beans available. I like to add some black beans or chick peas to tossed salads that I take with me when I go on a client's site on Tuesdays. At the farm, because we don't keep the freezer plugged in, I keep a couple of cans of chick peas and beans on the "emergency rations" shelf.

 

[larry_stewart]

Usually Canned for me, but if a recipe specifically calls for dried beans, I will use them too.
Since Ive been using canned beans for so long, I actually prefer the taste and consistency of them a little better. Im sure if I grew up on dry beans, Id feel the other way.
My friend from Brazil is the opposite. She grew up on dried beans and only uses them.

 

[GotGarlic]

cool, addie was right about the better quality beans being used for canning.

Yes, we had this discussion a while ago and I had just read the Cooks Illustrated article and mentioned it here. I, too, grew up with canned beans, although we didn't have them a whole lot. I actually don't enjoy the flavor of just beans, so I've liked them much better since I learned how to make things like hummus and homemade Mexican dishes.

 

[Mad Cook]

Hi:

I use beans fairly regularly in cooking (usually black and garbanzo), but I always use canned.

I'd say that about 95% of the time when I cook, it's for 2 or 1, so I tend to "fly by the seat of my pants" when figuring out what to make. This makes dry beans tough for me, because they take so much forethought and time with the soaking in water and all that.

I'm looking for comments from those of you who are familiar with both canned and dry; specifically, how "worth it" is it to go the long route? All comments welcome.

Thanks
Matt

I'm usually cooking for one so I almost always use canned because they are easier, except when making hummous because I think it tastes better when the chick peas (garbanzos) are cooked for the dish rather than when canned ones are used.

Occasionally a recipe calls for the soaked beans to be cooked with the ingredients of the dish so I'd not use canned then.

Incidentally, with the sole exception of one recipe which I haven't tried, I have never come across a recipe that required you to put the dried beans, unsoaked in with the rest of the ingredients. Unless the recipe states categorically that you should do this, it's always better to soak them. It saves both time and fuel in cooking. I tend to soak overnight because that suits me but with most beans you can bring them to the boil and leave them for an hour or so to soften. (I find that this method doesn't work well with soya beans which need to be soaked from cold and can take forever!)

When the soaking is finished, throw away the soaking water and cook in fresh water. This avoids the less anti-social effects of eating beans, if you know what I mean.

You can freeze the cooked beans if it suits you to boil/simmer more than you need fro one meal and this is more economical than just cooking enough for one or two people.

And if I have time to plan I cook my soaked dries beans in the slow cooker. I have used the pressure cooker but if you aren't careful with the timing they can go to mus before you have chance to turn round.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Dried
(on the very rare occasion I use canned)
I prefer the texture of dried beans
also as others have mentioned, I can control the
amount of all of the ingredients I use in cooking them.
I make up large batches of:
Black beans
Cannellini beans
Lentils
and then portion them off
bag & tag 'em
then pop then in the deep freeze
... ready at a moments notice (they don't take long to defrost)

 

[Oldvine]

When I make a big batch of chili beans, I make my sauce and then add how ever many gallons of plain cooked beans I need to feed the crowd. Gallons are available at the restaurant supply store and they are cheaper than the price I attach to my time and energy.