Need some advice on cooking beans

[Moesha]

4 16 oz. cans white beans with juice

How did you substitute this with the dry beans? Did you just use 64 oz of them without making up for the juice or did you add some of the water from when you cooked them?

[jennielynn1970]

Oooooh... that sounds really good, Sallyanne! I love bean soup and lentil soups. So good and hearty and healthy.

You have snow now?! Ugh!!!! We're still getting all rain. At this point I'd rather have sun than snow though. I miss the sun!

[RICHARD]

My mom would soak the beans and change the water before cooking.

I have tried both the soak and quick cook methods. The quick cook method make a brothier bean.

(Bean broth is good for infants too! When they start to eat solids you can sneak some strained bean juice into a bottle-Mexican old wives feeding tip.)


Refried beans?

Cook pinto beans until done.
Heat lard or bacon grease in a skillet, you can do veggie oil but the grease gives it a better flavor. Add beans and some broth-start with beans and add broth to get the consistency you want.

Add cheese if you want a stiffer bean-if you are making burritos or tacos it will keep the beans from falling out.

[Barbara]

Important: don't put salt in when you cook the soaked beans. Salt after they are cooked

[columbine]

If you dump the soaking or parboiling water and cook the soaked/parboiled beans in fresh water, you lose some minerals but you also reduce your methane production significantly! I made bean-cabbage-millet soup (which decided it wanted to be more of a stew, which is fine with me - less spillage) and I also cooked the cabbage separately. I boiled water and then put the cut-up cabbage in the boiling water for 5 minutes, then drained it in a colander, and added it to the already-made soup. All the flavor, none of the gas!

Love, Columbine (whose day-job office is way too crowded to ignore such things)

[sasvermont]

Moesha, I added another portion of chicken broth so I ended up putting in 8 oz. of broth rather than the four.

I did not use the bean broth, if you will, and I did not wash them either. I moved the beans to another pot, after doing the saute process.

I had some of the chili just moments ago. I love the zing! I also added a bit of red powdered chili pepper. And I left out the sour cream, cause I didn't have any in the house. I love it with the sour cream.....I don't care much for regular chili....but the white chili is just the best!