Dried Bean Cooking 101

Once upon a time, a very dear friend of mine took the time to film a cooking lesson for me. Now, I'm doing the same but with less than satisfactory results I'm afraid. Maybe if I ask her really nicely, she'll let me post her cooking demo on here for everyone to enjoy!

Okay, just so you know, we eat a LOT of beans at my house. They're cheap and good for your heart, taste so good, uh, you know. Anyways, here's what I started out with.


Yeah, I know, I do ALL my shopping at Wal-Mart. I'm cheap that way.

It really doesn't matter what kind of bean you start out with, the end product should be yummy regardless!

Now, here's the next step when cooking with dried beans.

You've GOT to soak them. This step makes the cooking process so much faster. I soak my beans in warm water. After an hour or so, the beans should look more like this:




As you can tell, they're starting to swell. Now comes the most crucial step when cooking with dried beans. This step can NOT be omitted, trust me on this!







You've got to drain these bad boys as much as you can to get all the poops out of the beans! If this step is omitted, you'll get possessed beans that nobody can or will eat! Soak the beans and every 30 minutes or so, drain the water they've been soaking in and put fresh water on the beans. Your tummy will thank you for this and so will your co-workers!

After the beans have soaked for several hours and been drained many, many times, it's time to cook them. These are the ingredients I added to my beans when I put them in the crock pot. I did mention to use a crock pot, right? Yeah, I know, more Wal-Mart products. Italian Seasoning is great when slow cooking dried beans. I add the chicken broth for a little flavor and also for the salt content since I'm not big on salting my food as I cook. I'm getting better with salting my food while cooking but it's still a work in progress for me. I thought if I didn't add salt while cooking we'd eat less salt. Well, nobody eats an un-salty dish so we simply started adding more salt at the table. Now I've decided it's okay to add the salt while cooking. After adding the beans and Italian Seasoning and chicken broth, mince the garlic, add to the mixture along with a huge handful of dried peppers. We grow our own peppers and dry them for use later in the year. If you don't have home-grown dried peppers, crushed red pepper will work just fine. Just make sure to add some heat to the dish, peppers are great with beans! I don't add the tomatoes and onions until the beans are almost cooked. Adding tomatoes to the beans too early can cause the beans to toughen. I like my onions to have a bite to them so I add them late in the cooking process. If you've crossed your fingers and held your tongue just right, your lovely dish should look something like this:

As Rachael Ray loves to say, Yumm-O!!! Serve with rice and enjoy!