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Got cocky with a $5 bag of dried beans and ended up with mushy soup after 3 hours of simmering
I thought I could skip the soaking step (since I saw a chef do it on YouTube) and just boil them straight, but they turned into a weird porridge texture and I had to salvage it with extra cumin and a can of Rotel - has anyone else ruined a cheap protein like that and found a trick to make it work?
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king.stella1mo ago
And for real, if you are set on skipping the soak, throwing them in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes is a lifesaver, I learned that the hard way after two other failed bean attempts. You just gotta season them after they cook or the salt can mess with the texture. That cumin and Rotel combo is actually a solid save though, I've done the exact same thing with a can of chipotles in adobo and it turned into a decent chili base.
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elizabethtaylor28d ago
I used to be dead set against adding anything to the soaking water, thought it was a gimmick. But I tried the baking soda trick last month with a bag of old pintos and it actually worked, softened them up in about 25 minutes. Now I just throw a pinch in with the water when I start, makes a huge difference with the older dried beans I always seem to have sitting around.
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king.stella1mo ago
Did you try adding a pinch of baking soda to the pot about halfway through? My grandma swore by that trick for softening beans faster (she was allergic to soaking, so she had weird methods). Also, if you catch them turning mushy early enough, you can drain the liquid and finish them in a skillet with the cumin and Rotel, almost like refried beans. It’s not pretty, but it beats throwing it out and starting over.
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