Leftover Beans

[skilletlicker]

So I'm making a simple pot of leftover pintos tonight, and thought I'd share how I usually do it. This isn't gourmet food, but I like it this way. Of course, if you cook for yourself long enough, you risk acquiring a taste for your own cooking.

I start by cooking some vegetables (onion, peppers, garlic, etc) in about an ounce of fat trimmed from the last big pork shoulder sale. Simmer with the leftover beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and some combination of herbs and spices from the cupboard.

If I'm not adding meat, I often add some rice and an appropriate volume of liquid (pork stock, chicken stock, bean stock, water, whatever).

Sometimes, instead of the rice, I spoon it over spaghetti or macaroni and call it my version of Cincinnati Chili or Pasta e Fagioli.

 

[caseydog]

I have had many a meal of rice and beans. I always have some bacon grease in the fridge, and that is perfect for the peppers, garlic and onions, and then the beans, which I have to confess are usually canned. Pintos and black beans are my preferred choices.

CD

 

[Kathleen]

I do love pinto beans. Growing up, we would make them very simply by rinsing and cooking them with salt pork or some other smoky meat. Not much, just a bit to give flavor. They were called soup beans when made that way regardless of how thick they were. (I like mine on the less thick side so yes, soupy.) Served with fried potatoes or okra, tomato slices, and cornbread. Also a nice slice of white onion. Mmmmmmm.......

 

[dcSaute]

I keep a large supply of dried beans in stock . . . so for us it's usually 'make-a-dish' and then, perhaps, left overs.
do you cook up a large batch and go from there?

current planning a half-batch of the 'World Famous Senate Bean Soup"
which is . . . . just Navy beans + smoked ham hocks + salt&pepper . . .

those Washington types are so fond of hyperbole . . .

 

[caseydog]

A Texas classic is Ranch Style Beans, which are pintos. If you must have beans in your chili, these are Texan approved.

CD

 

[skilletlicker]

do you cook up a large batch and go from there?

I usually cook a pound of dried beans at a time, which yields about six cups. I like them a little overcooked, so they're floating in their own gravy. Favorites are big limas known as butter beans, pintos, black, navy, small reds, black eyed peas, and split peas.
If I start with more water than normal, then some of that gravy is left over, which I call bean stock and use like any other kind of stock.

 

[taxlady]

I'm still learning about beans. I didn't really start cooking with them until I came across Chef John's Italian White Bean and Sausage Stew. Since that recipe was posted on YouTube on 2020-04-24, it was probably some time in April or May of 2020 that I started enjoying beans.

Italian White Bean and Sausage Stew

Bursting with beans, greens, and sausage, Chef John's Italian white bean and sausage stew recipe is comforting and nutritious and warms you throughout.

www.allrecipes.com

We never ate beans, other than green beans and wax beans, at when I was a kid. It's just not very Scandinavian.

I disliked the few bean dishes I tried at camp and at friends' homes. I tried beans with pork and beans in tomato sauce as an adult and did not like them, not even a little bit. I am now finding bean dishes that I enjoy.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Left over beans? I don't understand.

 

[Kathleen]

I hear you, SoB. Leftover beans are rare here too. Since I am the only person here who eats them, I make them a pound at a time. I also like them a bit overcooked.

 

[blissful]

@Kathleen, do you? I'm particular about cooking our beans. As they cook I put two beans on the counter then push them with the back of a spoon. If they split in half, they are not close to being done. The next step (2 more beans) is when they break apart, shatter, but each piece of the shattered bean is a little hard. About 15 minutes later (another 2 beans) is when they begin to mash without hard chunks. That is when I am done cooking them. Another 15 minutes of cooking them they start to get a little water logged and the skins break up more. I don't care for the 'mash' to be water logged at all. (the reason is that if I use them for making vegan veggie burgers they will be mushy and no one likes them that way) Now I'm not really sure what you mean by a bit over cooked, but we do need to make them to our liking. I wish people talked about how they cook their beans and what they mean by 'done'.

I make white bean hummus or chick pea hummus....and a person can doctor those up with red peppers or beets, a hundred possible variations. A person could make a spread like hummus with just about any kind of bean.

We also like soy beans, red beans, black beans, pinto beans, black chick peas, black eyed peas, fava beans and I've forgotten how many other kinds we have in bags in buckets in storage.

We grew red beans for our first time this summer! LIttle red beans, not kidney beans and not tiny red beans.

We put about 1/2 cup of one kind of bean or another on our meal sized salads. Right now we have 2 salads made up and they have red beans on them.

 

[skilletlicker]

I wish people talked about how they cook their beans and what they mean by 'done'.

I think you described what most people mean by done perfectly. I like them cooked past that. Not saying you're wrong; I'm right. Just trying to fulfill your wish quoted above. I want to see their original shape but I don't want an "al dente" mouth experience. I also want the liquid to be rich, thicker than water, almost like gravy (coat the back of a spoon). As to "how to cook them," I want a simmer. Constant bubbles but not a violent roiling boil that literally explodes the beans and emulsifies what's left. And I want the simmer to continue as long as it takes to get to the condition described above.

Blissful, I don't know if that satisfies your wish but it is the best my meager skills with the craft and the language can do.

 

[blissful]

That @skilletlicker was one of the most descriptively beautiful paragraphs I have ever witnessed.
ALSO "I want a simmer" EXACTLY. And that you want it past al dente. It would never have occurred to me to want the liquid to be a little like gravy or to coat the spoon.

It does satisfy my wish, thank you very much!
Since we aren't all in person as we describe our cooking, it's sometimes difficult to describe exactly how we do what we do.

 

[skilletlicker]

Thank you. :Blushing

 

[Kathleen]

@blissful Wow! I don't think I have an exact way to judge, but I'm going to try with pinto beans as my example.

If I am making soup beans, which is exactly what it sounds like, I will use a bit more water. When the beans start to split and break easily, I will taste them. I want them to not be complete mush, but not to have any hardness within. For soup beans, they look like this....and the pot likker is demanding of cornbread. The liquid can be darker or lighter depending on the pinto bean.

If I am making them for other things, I will use less water and cook them so they "mash" easily to create a thick, beany paste. I used to do this more, but am the only one in the house who loves beans. These days, I typically make soup beans with pintos.

As for other types of beans, if it is soup that they are made for, the above really is the same for most beans. I like lentil soups too, but want some of the beans to hold together. I do like a thick split pea soup so will cook the split peas down more.

Am I making any sense at all? I hope it helps, but...well, as my mother would say, "I just cook em." "Simmer" is a good word.

 

[Damaris]

You could also add a splash of vinegar or a squeeze of lime at the end to brighten the flavors. Smoked paprika or cumin can give it a nice depth too.

 

[KatyCooks]

Loving this thread. I adore beans of every variety. To be fair - possibly because of my location, my usual beans are tinned, or more lately, and expensively, jarred. (At the start of Covid I did not stock up on toilet rolls like most Brits - I stocked up on beans!)

I often have the problem of having a recipe that calls for half a tin of beans (cooking for two) and wondering what to do with the other half. (Any bean you can think of - kidney, butter, black, black-eyed, cannellini, borlotti... anyway, you get the picture.)

So, here's the question - can you freeze a canned bean? If you do, will it dramatically change or damage the nutritional value, or the texture?

 

[blissful]

When I was canning beans @KatyCooks there were a few jars here and there that didn't seal. I froze those. I doubt they lose much nutritional value in the freezer. They might break up a little easier if they aren't fully thawed out.
Now I make big batches of chili beans and red beans and baked beans. I usually start with 4 cups of dry beans and I usually end up with 3 or 4 quarts of beans. All the quarts go in the freezer except the one we are eating from right away. So I freeze bean often when I batch cook.

 

[KatyCooks]

When I was canning beans @KatyCooks there were a few jars here and there that didn't seal. I froze those. I doubt they lose much nutritional value in the freezer. They might break up a little easier if they aren't fully thawed out.
Now I make big batches of chili beans and red beans and baked beans. I usually start with 4 cups of dry beans and I usually end up with 3 or 4 quarts of beans. All the quarts go in the freezer except the one we are eating from right away. So I freeze bean often when I batch cook.

Perfect. Thank you Blissful - the voice of experience is just what I was looking for.

 

[blissful]

White Beans: The Ultimate Guide

Learn all about vegan cooking with white beans!

herbivoreskitchen.com

Mostly in my bean stash I have the least expensive white beans, the northern beans. They are also the longest cooking beans, 2 hours after soaking.
Something I didn't know, that the little round white beans are called navy beans because they are a favorite and staple bean of the navy.
I'm going to try to get a few lbs navy beans and a few lbs of cannellini beans to see if we like them more or less.
We've had lima beans and we like them too.
White beans can be mashed and used as a slight thickener to watery soups. I wonder if the texture of the cannellini and navy beans are less grainy and better for thickening than northern beans.

 

[Kathleen]

Thanks, Bliss! I love beans. Frank is not as taken with them, but I love them. This is a nice "cheat sheet."