drfugawe
Assistant Cook
Greetings!
I'm having some issues - actually, I think several - with cooking dry beans. They are taking forever, and in the process, both losing their flavor, and taking on a slightly bitter taste!
The beans to which I refer were brought back from Mexico last year, and may simply be very old (I know, I know! But Mexico has fantastic beans - I guess you need to know where to buy them!). I'm assuming that is why they are taking so long to soften - I pre-soaked and have left them cooking now for more than 30 hours(!!!) in a crockpot - at this point, I just want to see if ANY amount of cooking time will soften them - it's kind of an experiment now.
My ingredients were: 2 cups dry beans; 6 cups water; 1/4 lb lightly cooked bacon; 1 cup chopped onions; 1/2 cup molasses; 1 small can diced tomatoes; 2 cloves minced garlic; 2 sticks cinnamon; 6 whole cloves; 1 Tbs dry mustard; salt/pepper.
But I think there are several things going on here - their flavor was best at the beginning of their cooking process, and has steadily declined since - and at this point, I'm not sure how much can be blamed on the beans themselves (a small, beige colored bean), and how much on my choice of ingredients, and how much on the fact that I'm cooking the hell out of all of this.
I've always had the notion that bean flavors improve the longer their ingredients meld at low cooking temp. But it seems that theory is being tested here, and I'd like to know why.
Any insight into this would be appreciated.
I'm having some issues - actually, I think several - with cooking dry beans. They are taking forever, and in the process, both losing their flavor, and taking on a slightly bitter taste!
The beans to which I refer were brought back from Mexico last year, and may simply be very old (I know, I know! But Mexico has fantastic beans - I guess you need to know where to buy them!). I'm assuming that is why they are taking so long to soften - I pre-soaked and have left them cooking now for more than 30 hours(!!!) in a crockpot - at this point, I just want to see if ANY amount of cooking time will soften them - it's kind of an experiment now.
My ingredients were: 2 cups dry beans; 6 cups water; 1/4 lb lightly cooked bacon; 1 cup chopped onions; 1/2 cup molasses; 1 small can diced tomatoes; 2 cloves minced garlic; 2 sticks cinnamon; 6 whole cloves; 1 Tbs dry mustard; salt/pepper.
But I think there are several things going on here - their flavor was best at the beginning of their cooking process, and has steadily declined since - and at this point, I'm not sure how much can be blamed on the beans themselves (a small, beige colored bean), and how much on my choice of ingredients, and how much on the fact that I'm cooking the hell out of all of this.
I've always had the notion that bean flavors improve the longer their ingredients meld at low cooking temp. But it seems that theory is being tested here, and I'd like to know why.
Any insight into this would be appreciated.