Big Pot of Beans
Published March 20, 2020
- Total Time
- 1 to 4 hours, plus optional soaking
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound any dried beans
- Salt
- Olive oil, as needed
- Aromatics, such as peeled garlic cloves, a halved onion or shallots, a celery stalk or a carrot
- Dried or fresh herbs, such as thyme, sage, oregano or rosemary sprigs, or a bay leaf or two
- A hunk of cured sausage, bacon, ham, smoked duck or pork or a Parmesan rind (optional)
- Chopped fresh herbs or celery leaves, red-pepper flakes, sliced scallion or red onion, flaky sea salt, for serving (optional)
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
210 calories; 2 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 15 grams protein; 143 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Rinse the beans, then soak them in salted water (it should taste like the sea) for anywhere from 4 hours to 12 hours. If you don’t have time, you can skip this step.
- Step 2
Drain beans and put them in a pot or electric pressure cooker. If cooking in a regular pot, add enough water to cover the beans by 2 to 3 inches. If using a pressure cooker, use less water, more like 1½ to 2 inches. Add a drizzle of oil and whatever aromatics and herbs you like. Add enough salt to the cooking water to make it taste like the sea.
- Step 3
If using a regular pot, simmer the beans for anywhere to 30 minutes to 2 to 3 hours, depending on what variety you used, how old they were and whether or not you soaked them. Check on them periodically, adding more water if the level gets too low (as in, lower than the beans). For the pressure cooker, the timing is anywhere from 5 minutes at high pressure to 50 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Step 4
Garnish with fresh herbs or celery leaves, sliced onion, if you like, a drizzle of oil, and a sprinkle of red-pepper flakes and sea salt.
Private Notes
Comments
re salting the soaking water... this surprised me as well ... this is what I found : When you soak dried beans in salted water, they cook up with softer skins. Why? It has to do with how the sodium ions in salt interact with the cells of the bean skins. As the beans soak, the sodium ions replace some of the calcium and magnesium ions in the skins. Because sodium ions are more weakly charged than calcium and magnesium ions, they allow more water to penetrate into the skins (thus softer skins)
Recipe does not indicate at what point you would add the meat or parmesan. I assume not early on if doing slow cooking as it would cook to death, so, when? And if pressure cooking, when?
I learned long ago that beer was a delicious liquid in which to cook beans, thanks to Julie Jordan's wonderful vegetarian cookbook, Wings of Life. Cheap beer is just fine. Adds flavor and the alcohol cooks off.
This is basically how beans are cooked in Brazil. Here, with more herbs, fresh ones added at the end with raw onion! The Brazilian way, with the spices sautéed separately as a soffritto, to which a couple ladlefuls of cooked grains are added, then mashed together and let caramelize a little before returning to the main pot to create a lovely, luscious thick broth.
If I knew which aromatics and herbs tasted good I would not need a recipe. Sigh. Useless.
This recipe pleasantly reminds me of the Stone Soup fairy tale.