Dried Lima beans

[Alix]

I have tried everything I can think of to make these palatable. I soaked them overnight, I tried the quick soak method on the bag, I tried soaking them in broth. The overall result...BLECH! They were STILL hard and crunchy and incredibly flavourless.

I really like the frozen lima beans I can get from time to time. (They are pretty tough to find though.) So I thought I would attempt to cook some of the dried ones that I can find anywhere. Gak. Even the dog wouldn't eat them.

Does anyone have a TNT method for doing these? One where the result is actually tasty?

 

[buckytom]

no..........
however, they are good for slingshots. (before soaking that is)

 

[GB]

It sounds like your beans are too old. Once they are too old, nothing will soften then enough to make them worth eating.

 

[Alix]

Thanks GB, glad to hear it wasn't something I was doing wrong. Buckytom, why didn't you tell me that BEFORE I soaked the whole mess of them! LOL. I am now tempted to go buy more and bean the yappy little dogs next door!

 

[Andy M.]

Alix:

The quick soak or overnight soak processes on the bag really only get the beans ready for further cooking. Typically, after the quick soak, you'd put them into a recipe for soup or stew, etc. and cook them further.

 

[jennyema]

Yes. You still have to cook them. You can't soak and eat.

 

[Alix]

Oh, I should have told you that I cooked them after soaking them. I put them in soup. Sorry, I wasn't clear there.

 

[Andy M.]

Well then. Go back to what GB said about the beans being old. Either that or they weren't cooked long enough.

 

[Robo410]

contrary to belief, dried beans don't last forever...well they do, but...
If you bought them this year use them this year. Otherwise use them for pastry weights.

soak, boil, cook etc. I love dried limas with ham hock and greens. As much a thick soup or stew as anything else.

 

[licia]

Dried lima beans can be delicious. My mom always used a ham hock to cook them, but I use a ham bone after we've eaten most of the meat. I soak them overnight, cook the hambone for about an hour. Drain the beans out of their soak water and add them and fresh water to the hambone. Cook until they start to soften, then add salt and whatever seasonings you like to flavor them further. Finish cooking and serve over white or brown rice, with chopped sweet onion or scallions. This is a complete meal. The beans and the rice make a complete protein dish. I do make southern cornbread to accompany this, (no sugar). I save the sugar for the iced tea

 

[Constance]

I love lima beans, especially the big ole butter beans. I like them cooked until they are mushy,with a hambone or hamhock, onions, garlic, a little hot sauce, lots of juice, and a piece of cornbread crumbled into my bowl.
They take a long time to cook, but if they stayed like rocks, I agree with the others...they must be old. We got a jar of "bean soup mix" from friends one Christmas, that they had made themselves. It looked so pretty that I left it displayed on the shelf for SEVERAL years. When I finally decided to cook them, they were as you described, Alix...like rocks. I have a jar of mixed pasta from the same friends, that I think just needs to go in the waste can.

 

[Alix]

Having got all that info from you folks I think I can safely conclude the beans were just too old. I honestly can't tell you how long I have had them. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Yep - not much hope of softening up really old beans.

I do pretty much what licia described for cooking the beans - although I usually use the "quick soak" method.

I wash the beans, put them in a pot and cover them by 3-4 inches with cold water, bring just to a boil, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1-2 hours. While they are soaking ... toss the ham bone, or smoked ham hocks, in a pot with the amount of COLD water you will need to cook the beans - bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover, and simmer for an hour or so while the beans soak. Now you have a liquid that will add some flavor to your beans!

Remove the ham bone/ham hocks to a plate or bowl to cool enough you can handle them. Drain the beans, add them to the "ham stock", cut the meat from the bones in whatever size chunks you want - and toss the meat and bones back into the pot. If the ham bone didn't have any meat on it you might want to add some diced/chopped ham. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until done. Some people prefer their beans intact - when I make a pot of butter beans I like to let them cook down a bit more until some of them break down and start to turn into a thick mush.

DO NOT add salt until the beans are done! Salting them at the beginning will make the beans tough.

I like mine over split and buttered cornbread with a side of turnip greens and a few dashs of green tabasco vinegar sauce - and a wedge of quartered onion.

VARIATIONS: Some people like to make a "proper" stock - adding onions, carrots, celery and peppercorns to the bones/hocks and then straining them out before adding the beans. Some people like to add a sliced or diced onion in with the beans and stock .. some like to add a bay leaf or two.

 

[GB]

I have never used dried bean myself so what I am about to say is completely just hearsay and I am just throwing it out there for conversation and learning sake. I am not saying that either of these things are correct. It is just what I have recently heard.

I usually use the "quick soak" method.

I have recently heard that the quick soak method works every bit as well as the overnight soak and that there is no additional benefit to doing it overnight.

DO NOT add salt until the beans are done! Salting them at the beginning will make the beans tough.

I have also recently heard that salting them in the beginning will not make them tough. That this is just something that people have been saying for years and years and just accepting as truth because it sounds logical, sort of like when people say you put salt in your pasta water to raise the temp.

Again, I do not have any first hand knowledge of either of these things, but I just thought I would put them out there anyway. Maybe someone who cooked with dried beans a lot would want to do an experiment?

 

[licia]

The quick soak method does work every bit as well as overnight. It is just a little bit handier for me to do the quick soak unless I need the beans quicker. I don't salt mine in the beginning but quite a few minutes before they are done. If they are salted at the last minute the salt doesn't get to the inside as well - a bit like trying to salt fried chicken after it has been cooked. I think the most unusual use I've ever seen for these beens was in a pot of chili. It tasted good, but wasn't my choice of a best way to use them.

 

[Alix]

GB, I think I have read the same thing about salting. However...I think the reason you should wait to salt at the end is to better adjust the AMOUNT of salt you use. If you salt too early you may wind up with oversalted food. BLECH.

 

[jennyema]

Shirley Corriher and Alton Brown both says always salt beans during cooking -- that it does not toughen them and unseasoned beans taste like "paper mache."

But Harold McGee says salted water makes beans take longer to cook.

Much discussion of how to cook dry beans here

I have always salted during cooking (I think beans taste flat without it and I am a zealot for seasoning while I cook)) and never had a problem, although I learned the hard way that acid ingredients like tomato and vinegar do toughen beans and should be added toward the end of cooking them.

I have a ham bone in the freezer and I am going to make ham and limas ala Michael and Licia this weekend. Thanks for the recipes/tips!

 

[auntdot]

I can verify that old beans do not soften - been there, done that.

My mom used to make a dried lima bean casserole with uncured pork chops. It was fantastic. Too bad I don't have the recipe.

 

[Dina]

Sure you're not using the lima beans I sent you last year, Alix? It could be that they're expired. I usually buy the frozen ones and use them in soup with lots of beef or chicken stock for flavor.

Dina

 

[mudbug]

I can verify that old beans do not soften - been there, done that.

My mom used to make a dried lima bean casserole with uncured pork chops. It was fantastic. Too bad I don't have the recipe.

auntdot, I cannot imagine what this tasted like. Can you approximate the recipe?