Cooking with Canned Beans

[GotGarlic]

Need to find a source!

You don't have canned there?

 

[skilletlicker]

...I guess it's what you grew up with, and a matter of personal taste....

That's as good as any way to describe it. I suspect there's some genetic hard-wiring involved. The way particular music is imprinted upon us at a certain age, and smells seem always to evoke specifics memories and moods.
Preference, learned in childhood, for some foods above others could be a useful survival tool.
Earlier there was talk of black-eyed peas. First time I ever had them was at my favorite Aunt's kitchen table. Maybe accidentally they were a little over-cooked so the beans were falling apart and resembled a thick soup or cowpea gravy. That's the way I like them best 60 years later.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Need to find a source!

I'll ship you dried or canned...

 

[Dawgluver]

Would they be in the Mexican section? I've never looked for them.

 

[GotGarlic]

Would they be in the Mexican section? I've never looked for them.

They're usually with all the other canned beans.

 

[Dawgluver]

Will have to take a look!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Like others have said, Eric, beans are cooked in the can when they process them. They only need to be heated. If you want to cook beans longer so that they can absorb the flavors from the other ingredients, you either have to remember to soak beans overnight, or do the quick-soak method as explained on the package. Even that takes more than an hour or two. Canned beans are always ready to go.

...Still like cheap pot pies though, and TV dinners. Can't understand why...

'Cuz they taste like memories, Chief. Sometimes memories taste better than anything fancy.

Would they be in the Mexican section? I've never looked for them.

They could be in several places, Dawg, depending on your store. Market Basket has both canned and dried beans, etc, and they have them in three different aisles! Ask someone who knows the store's stock - they should be able to tell you where to go...:

 

[jennyema]

Black eyed peas

Canned plain -- with all the other beans
Canned with seasoning -- with southern or "soul" food. Gloria's is a brand

Dried -- with the other dried beans

Frozen -- with the frozen vegetables

This is where I find them in my Stop and Shop

Try making the salad called Texas Caviar! It might become your go-to pot luck dish
Texas Caviar Recipe - Chowhound

 

[Addie]

I keep canned potatoes on hand for when I don't have regular potatoes for stews. They're emergency potatoes. Canned okra, not so sure about. Artichokes either.

When the kids were small I always kept a couple of cans of sliced potatoes for Sunday breakfast. Bacon, eggs and home fries.

 

[Mad Cook]

I have seen 2 tv shows about using canned beans as a good product. drain them and give them a rince,, and you don't have to make your own dried beans all night.

I tried this a couple of times now, in soups . but I think the beans fall apart?

The chilli was OK, but the Navy Bean soup was Mush...

Thanks, Eric Austin Tx.

If I use tinned beans I tend to add them near the end of the cooking time and just heat them through. They seem to pick up the flavours in the pot in the short time.. They are already cooked enough to eat so too much extra cooking will send them to mush.

Co-incidentally, I was watching a Jamie Oliver programme the other day and he tipped the whole canful into his demonstration dish including the liquid and he said it was OK to do that. I don't think it does any harm. Just might not suit every recipe.

 

[Mad Cook]

I like cooking with canned beans as long as they're not canned green beans...now those should be outlawed!

On last night's "Restaurant Impossible" (yes, I am a sad person) one of the things wrong with the restaurant that was featured was the canned green beans.

 

[Andy M.]

A recipe I learned in Boy Scouts was for a ground beef scramble that consisted of:

Ground Beef
Chopped Onion
One can each of:
sliced mushrooms
cream of mushroom soup
corn
potatoes
peas

Not a dish I'm proud of but I still make it from time to time.

BTW, if you try to gourmet it up with fresh vegetables, cream, etc, it doesn't work.

 

[RPCookin]

I used canned pigeon peas for Bahamian peas and rice when I lived in the Bahamas. Unsurprisingly, they don't exist in grocery stores in Colorado.

I do use black, red, kidney and other canned beans for many dishes. I don't have the foresight to used dried.

 

[Kayelle]

Try making the salad called Texas Caviar! It might become your go-to pot luck dish
Texas Caviar Recipe - Chowhound

Jenny, that sounds a little like the delicious salad from Cheryl...
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f11/black-bean-and-corn-salad-92149.html
with BEP instead of black beans.
Now I know I'll be buying several packs of frozen BEP to keep in the freezer for the year.

 

[Addie]

On last night's "Restaurant Impossible" (yes, I am a sad person) one of the things wrong with the restaurant that was featured was the canned green beans.

If it is on the menu, I will always order meatloaf. So of course you get mashed taters, gravy and some veggie. Invariably, it is always a canned veggie. I usually asked first if it is canned, and if the waitress says yes, I tell her to mark down "hold the veggie." If she doesn't know, I tell her to ask, and if she gets a 'yes', then tell the kitchen to hold the veggie. There are only two veggies in a can I will eat. Creamed style corn and ice cold waxed beans with ranch dressing.

 

[Daizymae]

And I have to agree, Kay, canned green beans are nasty.

No worse than frozen green beans. YUK. There's no solution, you just have to grow your own and eat in season!

 

[Mad Cook]

I used canned pigeon peas for Bahamian peas and rice when I lived in the Bahamas. Unsurprisingly, they don't exist in grocery stores in Colorado.

I do use black, red, kidney and other canned beans for many dishes. I don't have the foresight to used dried.

"Gunga peas" is another name for pigeon peas. I believe you can substitute "black-eye peas".

(Used to have a British West Indian neighbour many years ago.)