Kitchen

[chessylady]

I use canned beans in chili, soup, hummus. I buy the low sodium ones and still rinse them before using. I like to use dried bean for main dish bean dishes. I soak overnight, drain the soaking water, add more water to the cooking pot along with one or more ham hocks. I boil the ham hock before putting it in the beans to eliminate the scum that occurs with the hock. After the beans are done, I remove the ham hocks, cut the lean meat off and return the lean meat to the pot. I usually cook black eyed peas, my favorite, white northern beans and pinto beans this way.

[forrestwolf]

Fresh butterbeans contain arsenic, and therefore should not be eaten raw......as some enjoy when shelling them..........

Now, for dried beans.......I always soak them, with a tad of baking soda in the water, and drain all of the "soak" water, and rinse well.......then cook as to what I am going to use them for........

Does adding baking soda to soaking beans reduce gas?

Yes indeed, research dating back more than 25 years (“Effect of Processing on Flatus-Producing Factors in Legumes“) found that adding baking soda to the soak water of dried beans before cooking (about 1/16 teaspoon per quart) significantly decreases the content of the raffinose family of sugars.

[house cat]

On 1/9/2014 Clover29 said:

I saw that show yesterday. I too was surprised that the beans looked cooked when they came out of the fridge yet she didn't say whether they were or not. She should have explained more about the beans, because it's dangerous to eat beans that haven't been cooked properly (soaked, and then boiled for at least ten minutes). It's more of a problem with kidney beans than other beans, but it's still something I wish she'd mentioned.

Thank you. She really didn't explain it very well. I think I'll just use canned ones, considering all the bother of dried ones.

[DoubleDown]

On 1/9/2014 house cat said:

I don't know if anyone watched 10 Dollar Dinners this week. She made sautéed canneloni beans. She said she used dry beans, but she took them out of the fridge and they appeared to be already cooked.

Is there a rule of thumb for cooking with dried beans? I usually used canned beans, but I'd like to avoid the salt and preservatives.

Any advice is welcome.

Thank you.

It's cannellini beans, and it's obvious she cooked the dried beans and then refrigerated them. She says this every time she uses dried beans in her recipes.

[mousiegirl]

I always used canned cannellini beans for dishes that call for them. When I make refried beans, I use dry, and cook them for hours, then freeze so as to have them when needed. Dry beans are more economical, so they say, but when one considers the expense of having a stove on for four hours plus, depending on how many beans are to be cooked, I am not so sure they are so economical, not to mention the labor involved. For the dish she used them for, canned were fine.

I also wonder where in the world she shops., because when she says a head of cabbage is $1.00+, I talk back to her, as here, it is $.40 per pound or more, and you know how heavy cabbages are. When she says she can feed four for $10.00, she must mean $10.00 a head at times, according to the ingredients she uses.

[house cat]

On 1/9/2014 DoubleDown said:

On 1/9/2014 house cat said:

I don't know if anyone watched 10 Dollar Dinners this week. She made sautéed canneloni beans. She said she used dry beans, but she took them out of the fridge and they appeared to be already cooked.

Is there a rule of thumb for cooking with dried beans? I usually used canned beans, but I'd like to avoid the salt and preservatives.

Any advice is welcome.

Thank you.

It's cannellini beans, and it's obvious she cooked the dried beans and then refrigerated them. She says this every time she uses dried beans in her recipes.

Thanks for the correction and information.

[house cat]

On 1/9/2014 mousiegirl said:

I always used canned cannellini beans for dishes that call for them. When I make refried beans, I use dry, and cook them for hours, then freeze so as to have them when needed. Dry beans are more economical, so they say, but when one considers the expense of having a stove on for four hours plus, depending on how many beans are to be cooked, I am not so sure they are so economical, not to mention the labor involved. For the dish she used them for, canned were fine.

I also wonder where in the world she shops., because when she says a head of cabbage is $1.00+, I talk back to her, as here, it is $.40 per pound or more, and you know how heavy cabbages are. When she says she can feed four for $10.00, she must mean $10.00 a head at times, according to the ingredients she uses.

I thought the same thing about her math, mousiegirl. I live in an area of the country where everything is high priced, and I can make some of those meals more economically.