You'd think I'd know beans by now (pinto beans)

[haggardfan1]

Quote: #9 trapdoor2 - One-step process, xlnt! Does your setting on the crockpot make 'em bubble (simmer)?

Simmer, I think. I pay zero attention to them. Wash, check for grit/stones, throw in pot, add water. I usually start them in the morning, check after lunch (add water if needed, stir). Season to taste after.

We do not use pig in pintos. All other beans (black, navy, limas, butter, black-eye, crowder, etc.) get fatback, smoked hocks (hard to find) or a big slice of ham steak...with the ring bone.

When making refritos, I make bacon first. Use the drippings to saute the onion and garlic, and to oil the skillet. I use a stick blender.

Another vote for slow cooker from me. I do a sweep the kitchen thing with spices, mine are probably never exactly the same. No soaking needed, just wash and cull rocks as stated above. I'm careful not to overcook mine, because I'll eat them over time and they'll get reheated a lot.

I quit cooking beans with ham hocks, because I don't like dealing with the little pieces of bone. Skimming off the fat with a spoon after they cooled was no problem; I just don't like anything that might endanger my teeth.

Now I use a ham steak, cubed ham, or a whole ham bone if I have one in the freezer from the holidays or something.

I love all beans, except kidney beans unless they are mixed into something. They have an off-putting metallic taste by themselves, at least to me. And I love navy beans done Senate style with ham. I made a big pot a couple months ago.

 

[schmee]

What is wrong with "turning them to mush"?

I think people eat too many undercooked beans. This is where most of this "gastric disturbance" issues come from.

Yeah, some do like it all broke down. I like them to be whole beans but cooked well. A fine line!

 

[old soul]

I don't do much bean-cooking around here, but I like them. I do, however, do boiled peanuts often, and they do cook faster without seasonings/salt in the water, just ad it the last couple hours. Not sure if this logic transfers to the bean world, but there may be something to it

 

[studio]

Anything and everything pig related works well with pinto beans. That's kinda the problem. The big challenge is to figure out ways to make bean recipes savory enough without any pig. I'm currently working on it.

Brothers and sisters,

One word: Chorizo Beans!

Staying away from meat products?
Try the very popular Soyrizo.
Tastes just like regular pork or beef chorizo.

 

[studio]

I don't think I've made pintos, but I make chickpeas, kidney, mapte, lentils etc... into Indian dishes. With all the spices, seasoning, yogurt etc... I don't miss pig.

The pig misses you though!

 

[beep.click]

The disparity in cooking times is related to a recent change in the laws of physics. Not everyone got the memo about that.

 

[oldunc]

Using hard/acidic water will take longer, that's why baking soda helps. The proteins in the beans won't "relax" (soften) if the water is on the acid side of the ph scale. I use a little baking soda with my water. I'm on a well, and it makes a pretty big difference.

Not sure if that would come into play in the OP's situation.

Did a front move in and change the local air pressure? Grasping at straws...

Salt will specifically make it easier for water to penetrate the skins; sodium (from salt and/or baking soda) helps to break down the pectin inside the beans, which is what causes them to soften. Both work in soaking and cooking stages- if you're interested, try searching "beans and baking soda" or some such on seriouseats.com, they've had a few well researched articles.

 

[Manual Slim]

Anything and everything pig related works well with pinto beans. That's kinda the problem. The big challenge is to figure out ways to make bean recipes savory enough without any pig. I'm currently working on it.

MSG

 

[metalicaster]

Perhaps your home has drastically changed elevation, raising the boiling point and cooking them faster.

 

[Frisco 57]

Made these many, many, many times.

I don't usually presoak my pinto beans. I usually simmer them for (2) two 90 minute sets.
Set one: Two cups of Pintos, 6 cups of water, 4 or 5 garlic cloves (minced) and a teaspoon or so of ground cumin.
Set two: add a diced medium onion, two or three table spoons of bacon fat, more water if needed and in the last half an hour, add salt to taste or better yet, add chicken bouyon, it will add salt & flavor. Pull about a cup of beans, mash them and add them back to the mixture to thicken BUT you've gotta watch closely and stir your beans often after you do this so they don't scorch on the bottom or stick to the pan.

 

[cometazzi]

I eat a lot of beans. Canned and cooked from dried. My experience:

1) I never pre-soak. I just bring water to boil, rinse the beans and dump them into the boiling water. The aquafaba that results is part of the delicious bean-ness.

2) I salt them while cooking. The part about making the skins tough isn't about salt, it's about acid. Add vinegar or tomato (citric acid) too early and you'll get hard beans.

3) A quartered onion in a vat of beans makes a difference. I can't describe the difference, but it's there. Don't chop it, because you can remove it easier if it's quartered.

4) There's no simple goodness that compares to a bowl of 'frijoles de olla'.

5) Regarding crock pots/slow cookers, there is a bit of an issue: some beans (mostly red, kidney, cannelini, castor) have a toxin in them that is destroyed by cooking. Slow cookers don't quite get to the proper temp to destroy the toxins (getting close but not quite somehow increases the toxin). In general, if you boil the beans for 15 minutes and dump the water before you put it into the slow cooker, you're good.

That said, I still have bags o' dry beans leftover from when I was stockpiling before The Plague that I still need to work through.

 

[oldunc]

Anything and everything pig related works well with pinto beans. That's kinda the problem. The big challenge is to figure out ways to make bean recipes savory enough without any pig. I'm currently working on it.

Pretty much any sort of smoked meat works well with any kind of beans; liquid smoke can be a great help with vegetarian bean dishes (or non vegetarian,, for the matter of that), though it's not the whole answer. Umami ("savoriness") is currently a trendy concept among cooks, and there are a lot of things being used (overused) to promote it- fish sauce, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, anchovies, mushroom powder etc.

ps- I tried a slow cooker for a while, didn't like it and gave it away, but Insta Pots, or other pressure cookers, are a great boon to bean fanciers.

 

[NoTeleBob]

Soak at least 12 hours. I've done 8 hours and sometimes the beans are still not ready. I end up cooking them for at least an hour. That doesn't always work depending on the dish you're putting them in. If it's just "making beans" then it's OK.

 

[NoTeleBob]

Not really a fan of the crock pot. Most of the dangerous food bacteria forms between 70 and 120 degrees. Keeping food in a crock pot at temps around 110-120 is a bad idea. If it's actually boiling, that's OK.

 

[Toto'sDad]

I had a big portion of Boston baked beans with my roasted chicken dinner tonight. If I did one of those deals where you put a charcoal lighter close to your backside and hit the scratcher when the duster is activated, I'd burn down half the town!

 

[msalama]

work better than epazote or Beano

I've no idea, since I've never used it with beans. They don't give me gas, probably because of my overall diet being on the light / low carb side nowadays - fish, veggies, salads, beans, nuts, falafel patties etc.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I just read in book on cooking beans that they take much longer to cook if you use salted water. I have no idea if that's true, but its what the author says. YMMV

The science does not agree with that.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to become a chef. But I'm sure glad he did, because he has applied his scientific method to everyday cooking topics. Have a read here:

Go ahead and salt your beans

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

The fresher dried beans are, the faster they cook and reach softness. Who knows how long that one pound bag of pintos has been for sale on your supermarket shelf. They will still be good, just take a lot longer. Salt has nothing to do with it. The beans will be better with salt in the soaking, and cooking water.
Lately, I use the baking soda and salt brine method from the Serious Eats website. This has worked every single time to get beans cooked in a predictable amount of time, and also to prevent "blow-outs", no, not that kind, I mean where the bean just comes apart, and looks nothing like a bean any more. The beans also require little to no seasoning when they are done, they are seasoned through and through.

I was scrolling through the posts so that I could make this point. The age of the beans is usually the most important factor in how quickly they cook. Old beans take exponentially longer to cook properly. Some will never cook properly if they are too old. They might be edible, but I consider a properly cooked bean to have a soft, creamy consistency. Any trace of grit or toughness is unacceptable in my book.

This past year I grew Vaquero beans, an heirloom bean from Rancho Gordo. At the end of the summer I picked all the beans and dried them. I saved a bunch to plant this year. I cooked several batches of beans that I had recently dried and they cooked in record time. I make dried beans about three times a month (my partner is a vegetarian). I have had old beans that never fully softened after several hours of cooking, but these "fresh" dried beans were soft and creamy in about an hour, with no pre-soaking.

As far as pre-soaking, it is totally optional. It does work, but it is not a deal breaker either way. It will cut down on time in the pot on the stove, but not really significantly so. But I don't mean to argue with success. If you have a method that works for you, by all means, keep doing it!

Beans are one of the most underrated foods on this planet. They are nutritious, taste great, and are very easy to prepare.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

. Wash, check for grit/stones, throw in pot, add water. I usually start them in the morning, check after lunch (add water if needed, stir). Season to taste after.

This is VERY IMPORTANT. Always sort your beans. Over the years, I have found numerous stones in commercially packaged beans. A stone like that will ruin your day. I dump packages of beans onto a baking tray and sort them small handful by small handful to the other side, watching carefully to pick out stones. They blend right in visually, but your teeth will definitely know the difference.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

Does cumin work better than epazote or Beano?

I don't cook them that often and forget about cumin as a de-energizer to curtail the methane.

I like cumin for flavor, but I'm not sure it does anything for the gas. They say epazote helps reduce the gas, but I'm not convinced on that one either. (I am totally open to both if I see real evidence, but for now I like them for flavor.) I'm guessing Beano is the best for reducing the gaseous effects, but honestly, I have never tried it. I live with a vegetarian after all, so she is generally worse than me...