my_psychosis
Senior Cook
How many hours should I soak dry pinto beans? I'm making pinto beans and rice tomorrow. (I've all ways used canned before.)
I think adding salt or a salty product to a pot of simmering beans makes them tough. I simply soak over night in fresh water, change the water just before transferring to the cooking pot and add the onion, herbs while cooking, then add the bacon or salt the final half hour or so.
This is from the Vegan Gourmet:
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NO SALT When Cooking Dried Beans
Add NO SALT until the beans are tender and cooked completely. Adding salt will prevent the beans from absorbing water. This is because a bean has an opening that is large enough for water molecules to enter it, but salt molecules are larger and will plug the bean opening, preventing the water to enter... thus you have HARD beans that never seem to cook right. Some say the bean is TOUGH, but the scientific reality is that the bean only got to absorb the water you soaked it in and not the water you cooked it in.
I could get more scientific, but if you cook a batch of beans with and without salt, your tongue will taste and feel the difference in the beans.
So add the salt and seasonings AFTER the beans are tender and the consistency you want the finished recipe to represent.
Hey, I don't cook dried beans often enough to give a definitive personal answer, but I'm only quoting a source I've used in the past and had success with. As for dueling, my gun's unloaded, but I'll put my split pea soup against yours any day!
Post it on another thread. I'd really like to compare it to mine. Mine? What am I talking about. I got if from The Joy of Cooking post WWll book.Hey, I don't cook dried beans often enough to give a definitive personal answer, but I'm only quoting a source I've used in the past and had success with. As for dueling, my gun's unloaded, but I'll put my split pea soup against yours any day!