Ah, the humble bean. If you’re not as enamored with these little nutrition powerhouses as I am, it’s probably because you’ve only eaten them from a can. But if you give this recipe a try, I’m sure you’ll understand why I love cooking beans from scratch. Beans are incredibly riffable. There’s a ton of varieties of these legumes and endless flavor combinations you can add to your pot, so I’m not going to give you a detailed recipe with precise measurements and ingredients. That’s not how I cook beans, and I don’t think that’s how anyone should. Instead, I’ll show you the essential ingredients and then give you some ideas to spice up your pot, making it truly your own recipe.
The Essential Ingredients for Cooking Beans
- Dry beans (i.e. pinto, black, kidney, cannellini, garbanzo—there’s so many opportunities!): Use as much as you want. Just be aware that as the beans cook, they will absorb water and triple in size.
- Water: I like to fill up the pot with enough water so that it takes up twice the volume of the beans.
- Salt: A lot. A whole freaking lot. If you don’t think you’re using too much, you’re not doing it right.
- Time: While not conventionally thought of as an ingredient, beans need time. Luckily they’re fine with spending most of that time to themselves, soaking in the pot.
The Riffable Ingredients
- Baking Soda: Beans don’t like to be cooked in acid. Having a slight acidic level in their cooking water is one reason why they may turn out hard. Adding a teaspoon of baking soda to the pot will change the water’s pH level making it more alkaline and ensuring the beans become tender.
- Fat: Adding a layer of fat to coat the surface of the pot’s water can also improve the texture of the beans and their broth. You can use any kind of cooking oil or rendered animal fat.
- Aromatics: Throw in a couple stems of whatever herbs you prefer, add some garlic cloves and/or half an onion (these add acidity to your pot, so it’s helpful to offset them with the baking soda).
- Spices: Add whole spices or stir in powdered spices to your bean water. Get creative!
- Cheese Rind: The cheese rind is the nubby end you’re left with after your done grating a wedge of a hard cheese like parmesan or romano. I used to just throw these nubs into the trash which was a huge mistake because they add so much delicious, cheesy flavor to broths and stocks.
- Acid: I know I said acid is bad, but that is only when the beans are cooking. Adding a splash of vinegar or citrus juice at the end has an amazing effect Only a small amount is needed to brighten the flavors of the other ingredients, giving your beans much more depth and personality.
Directions
- Fill a large, lidded pot with enough water to cook your beans. Add a palmful of salt. Taste the water. If it tastes like salty seawater, you’re good. If not, keep adding more salt until it does. Add your beans, baking soda, and fat (if using). Let that soak anywhere from overnight to forty-eight hours. The longer you soak your beans, the quicker they will cook.
- The next day, bring your pot to a boil. As it’s coming to a boil, add whatever aromatics, spices, and/or cheese rind you have on hand.
- Reduce to a simmer, cover the pot, and come back to check on the beans in forty-five minutes. Bite into a few. We’re going for a very tender, almost creamy texture. The cooking time of the beans can vary a lot depending on when they were harvested, so if they’re still hard, keep going until you’re satisfied with their texture.
- Once you’ve tried a few beans and they all are tender, remove your pot from the heat. Try a spoonful of the broth. Can you taste all the ingredients in there? Now add a tiny amount of acid to the pot and get another spoonful. You will be amazed by the difference.
- Here’s the most important step of all. Do NOT throw away your bean broth. When I transfer my beans to a tupperware container, I like to add in enough broth to cover them. As for the rest of that delicious elixir, stop and take a minute to think about all the wonderful flavors you picked out to season your beans. Do you really want to pour that down the sink? I hope the answer is no. You can use that broth as your liquid for cooking rice, quinoa, or any other type of grain, and you won’t even need to add any additional seasonings since it’s already in the liquid.
Songs to Cook to
- “Express Yourself” by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
- “Simple Kind of Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- “Come Together” by The Beatles
Why Everyone should be Cooking Beans from Scratch
It may seem strange for a blog called Everyday Gourmet to devote its first post to a humble pot of beans, but I’m a huge fan of these little guys. When cooked right (which is really easy to do!), they can add to your meals a smooth, creamy texture imbued with a savory, rich taste. Think of beans as a blank canvas to work on, coloring in strokes of flavor with whatever herbs and spices are inspiring you on any given day. Beans really exemplify what Everyday Gourmet means to me: taking simple ingredients and maximizing their potential for feasible, affordable homemade food that can delight the senses.
Not only are beans delicious, they’re also cheap as hell! On average, you can buy a one-pound bag of pinto beans for $1.79, and that will yield multiple servings. Compare that to the average price of a steak, or even cuts of chicken. It’s clear that anchoring more of your meals with beans as the main protein source can help stretch your wallet so you can splurge on other ingredients.
Speaking of protein, beans are a great source of it. Along with lentils and peas, beans belong to the pulse family. Vegetarians and vegans have known for quite some time that they can easily satisfy their protein needs with pulses. But that’s just skimming the surface of their nutritional benefits. They are also low in fat, high in antioxidants, prevent heart disease, lower bad cholesterol, stabilize blood pressure, and are packed with essential nutrients like zinc, magnesium, iron, and potassium to name a few. They’ve also been shown to help with weight loss as they keep you feeling full longer and can even reduce the risk of cancer.
Yet beans’ health benefits extend far beyond our personal well-being. They could also play a vital role in the overall health of our planet. Beans and other pulses get good marks from environmentalists for their low water and carbon footprints. In fact, beans can be so beneficial for the environment that, according to a study at Oregon State University, if every American substituted beans for beef, the US could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 17% without taking any other environmental actions. This is in large part due to the extreme inefficiency in livestock farming which is a leading cause of Amazon deforestation. Sure, not everyone, including me, is going to completely swear off beef in favor of these significantly less glamorous pulses. However, reducing our overall meat consumption by supplementing it with beans should be a part of everyone’s strategy to reduce our carbon footprint.
Well, I hope I’ve made you a bean convert. I truly believe they are a great pantry staple that can be incorporated in an endless variety of satisfying and healthy dishes like my Grilled Three Sister Salad. And who knows? Maybe the world would be a better place if we all ate more beans. If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear what you think, so let me know in the comments below.
