On Cooking Beans…..
In a recent blog article Christopher Kimball formerly the man behind Cooks Magazine and the Cooks TV show had some good information on cooking beans. My mom always told me hard water made for hard beans and his research seems to support her advice. Since chuck wagon cooks don’t always have soft water his tip of adding salt will work for me and dispels the myth I’ve heard from some chuck wagon cooks that adding salt at the start of the cooking will toughen the beans.
“In recent testing, we’ve found that soaking dried beans in mineral-rich; hard tap water can toughen their skins. Some recipes recommend using distilled water to avoid this issue, but we’ve discovered a simpler solution: adding salt to the tap water, which prevents the magnesium and calcium in the water from binding to the cell walls, and it will also displace some of the minerals that occur naturally in the skins. We found that three tablespoons of salt per gallon of soaking water is enough to guarantee soft skins.”
Here is the link to his blog:
https://christopherkimball.wordpress.com/…/cooking-beans-1…/
In a recent blog article Christopher Kimball formerly the man behind Cooks Magazine and the Cooks TV show had some good information on cooking beans. My mom always told me hard water made for hard beans and his research seems to support her advice. Since chuck wagon cooks don’t always have soft water his tip of adding salt will work for me and dispels the myth I’ve heard from some chuck wagon cooks that adding salt at the start of the cooking will toughen the beans.
“In recent testing, we’ve found that soaking dried beans in mineral-rich; hard tap water can toughen their skins. Some recipes recommend using distilled water to avoid this issue, but we’ve discovered a simpler solution: adding salt to the tap water, which prevents the magnesium and calcium in the water from binding to the cell walls, and it will also displace some of the minerals that occur naturally in the skins. We found that three tablespoons of salt per gallon of soaking water is enough to guarantee soft skins.”
Here is the link to his blog:
https://christopherkimball.wordpress.com/…/cooking-beans-1…/
What
do I need to know about soaking and cooking dried beans? Through the
years, we’ve waffled back and forth about the best way to cook dried
beans. Admittedly, we haven’t been consistent: some re...
christopherkimball.wordpress.com
James W Carpenter We
always took 5 gallons of water home from Grandma Bessie's house in
Yarnell to cook beans in. Yarnell, Arizona was famous for it's water
there was even a public fountain & hose bib under a sign that I
think said something like; "YARNELL IT'S THE WATER".
John Wellington Cook them don't soak !
Biscuitflats Chuck Wagon That's
a good debate John and there are folks on both sides of the argument. I
have been cooking them in chuck wagon cook-offs for 15 years - we cook
over a wood fire in all kinds of weather and have to have them ready for
the judges at noon. Personally, I feel
the best way to do that is to soak them overnight, get them on the fire
by 6 AM and slow cook them until noon. When I cook them at home and
have all day I don't always soak them.
Bruce Utley Dave McDowell, When I cook my beans I use chicken stock only. They come out perfect!
Edna Phillips Chicken stock sometimes has salt in it
Tom Speropulos We rinse them. Put in the water, or broth, with the spices. Then, cook them in crock pot for 5-6 hours. They turn out great.
Rick Schuman Cooks Illustrated is a great magazine and Christopher Kimball is the best editor we've seen.
Biscuitflats Chuck Wagon I agree Rick, I was sorry to hear that he was moving on at the end of the current season.
Bob Heavirland I always added backing soda to the soak water.
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