A few years ago I did one of those farm to table dinners and it featured our beans. I loved sitting at the end of a long white table with fellow producers and eager diners. But then I sampled what a seemingly knowledgeable chef had done with our beans. I wanted to run in shame! They were about 40 minutes short of being fully cooked. In his head, al dente meant good. It may be good for pasta or snap peas but beans need to be fully cooked, for texture, flavor and digestibility.
The March 2016 Vegetarian Times has an article on vegetarian diets and digestive issues and author Nicole Gregory quotes dietitian Mindy Hermann: “Beans don’t do any good al dente. They need to be soft on the inside. The firmer they are, the harder they are to digest.”
This makes sense, especially when we hear all the time that our beans don’t cause gas the way other beans can. Ours are fresher than most commercial commodity beans and therefore get softer faster and normally are thoroughly cooked easier.
(As an aside, the other day in our local grocery store we saw a brand of heirloom beans with a “best by” date of 4 years out. I find this offensive. Who knows how old the beans were the moment they were bagged? How can you possibly give a “best by” date so far out, especially when storage is so out of your control?)
Anyway, the end result is save al dente for your fresh vegetables. Dried beans should be cooked all the way.
I wholeheartedly agree. Also — that is one good looking salad.
Thank you so much for this. I worked in a kitchen where my perfectly cooked black eyed peas were thrown out and replaced with hard inedible ones. I couldn’t even begin to express my frustration at otherwise highly talented chefs making this mistake.
Adding salt to the pot while the beans are still cooking will also prevent them from getting soft. Save the salt for just before serving. We love beans, and I just make the family wait if the beans aren’t soft enough. I have only assumed the faster the beans cook the fresher they are, it’s nice to know I was right.
The bit about not adding salt until the end is a myth. It has been tested, and beans soften just fine with salt added at the beginning. Plus, they are salted all the way through by the time they cook. If you salt at the end, you have bland beans in a salty broth. I happen to think the texture is better when they are salted at the beginning.
Yes. I especially notice it in the flavor and texture of the Royal Coronas, my current gaga choice.
Rose Marie Shulman calls for salting beans after they have come to a boil. The long simmer time is plenty of time for them to absorb the salt. Tasty!
I’m not doubting you, but can you provide any examples of said research and proof this is a myth? I just want to research it a bit before wasting a valuable bag of Rancho Gordo beans…
Cooks County on their website, dated 2010 article, put in search engine, cooks country salting beans for cooking..There are also longer articles and a video in that group of magazines and cooking shows
J. Kenji López-Alt, the chef who wrote The Food Lab and was the main contributor to seriouseats.com, tested this – he wrote about it in his book, but also here, on the website. He also goes into the science behind why salting early (he recommends salting in both the soaking stage and the cooking stage) results in “creamier, more intact beans.”
Check out the full article here:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/09/salt-beans-cooking-soaking-water-good-or-bad.html
The Food Lab debunks a lot of the classic “food” and also explains why some of the classical rules work so well. Obviously, you’re a person of the beans, so pick up Heirloom Beans (by one Steve Sando) first.
Amen!
The issue I found with salt during cooking is evaporation which concentrates the salt. I tend to add water as needed to ensure the beans fully cook, which is the point here right? Once the beans are tender and still have plenty of liquid (precious caldo), I take them off the burner, add the salt and allow them to sit and absorb, By tasting the liquid you can tell if you’ve added enough salt. This
saves valuable time and guess-work. Salty beans are really hard to “fix”.
Can you post a recipe for that salad?
http://www.ranchogordo.com/pages/alubia-blanca-salad-with-pineapple-vinaigrette
I have also noticed that adding the merest pinch of baking soda about half way through the cooking results in a more consistent creamy texture to the beans. I resisted doing this for years for fear it would change the flavor of the beans, but it doesn’t.
I’m confused about why this is an article? Are there people out there eating hard beans and they think that’s how they’re supposed to be?? I doubt that, considering beans from a can are soft and when you make dry beans you’re naturally going to try to get them to resemble the texture of a soft canned bean.
I am just as confused. There are all kinds of cooks out there!
Good point!! And another request for the recipe of that salad in the photo…
Looking for sustainably grown or organic black eyed peas. Any sources in California? Dried is fine.
We’ll have then again late Thanksgiving.
Thanks!
Some beans can be toxic if not boiled. Some slow cookers never come to a boil and can actually make them more toxic. I know Broad beans, Kidney and Cannellini are some of the toxic ones.
Toxic? Really? I’ve been cooking beans for years and this is the first time I’ve heard that. Can you (or someone) validate this?
https://authoritynutrition.com/foods/kidney-beans/
The information on how to cook them is near the bottom under the heading: Raw Kidney Bean Toxicity
You cannot sprout these beans for eating, for example
I found the recipe for that salad! (I kept coming back to drool over the picture). It’s under the “Cooking” section of the main Rancho Gordo website: http://www.ranchogordo.com/pages/alubia-blanca-salad-with-pineapple-vinaigrette (Alubia Blanca Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette)
oooo – and I think I have everything on hand to make it! (except with a different kind of beans)
Try the Misteca alt for cooking the beans it is wonderful and results are astounding.
re: beans served al dente: I worked at a private school many years ago. The chef who ran the school’s cafeteria was wonderful, the food was amazing, but he seemed to think that beans should be served al dente. I’ll never understand why anyone, especially a professional chef, would make this mistake unless he never tasted the beans. Anyway, it does happen – just wanted to give an example.
I recently learned that hard water is more of a problem than salt, when it comes to beans not getting soft.
Serious Eats did a test on the salt — no-salt method of cooking beans. http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/09/salt-beans-cooking-soaking-water-good-or-bad.html
I use a pressure cooker to cook my beans…. Always tender and I can use less liquid which makes a richer broth
Every time I reheat a batch they get better. For beans eaten hot, I’m using longer cooking times these days.
I recently cooked a pound of RG Gigante beans. When some were done, creamy and delicious, others were still al dente. So, do I keep cooking until the last bean is really soft? I worry there will be a lot of very mushy beans that fall apart.
It’s hard to say without knowing more about how you cooked them, but they’re pretty tough beans so the point of getting to mushy is pretty far away.
That’s why I like your beans I soak over night they cook up nice and soft.
I have a bean cooking question. I cook my beans like the card says..a hard boil for 15 min, then slow till done. No salt till the end…Last batch are kind of mealy….any ideas on what I did wrong??
You can actually start salting much earlier. It’s hard to say but maybe it’s your water. Try it with filtered water or even bottled water one time and see if you get different results. Good luck!