Two relatively recent books on slow cookers have inspired me to dust mine off. I go through periods where I am enchanted but often the results are a murky mess. Both Hugh Acheson’s The Chef and the Slow Cooker and Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker are solid and deserving of your attention.
In the end, I think you can justify buying a slow cooker just for making beans. These books take it one step further.
You put in the beans, unsoaked if they are Rancho Gordo, a little onion, some garlic and maybe a spoonful of olive oil. That’s it. You can put them in in the morning and come home to a wonderful pot or you can start at night before going to bed and in the morning the house is filled with a lovely aroma like no other. You just woke up and you’ve already achieved something grand today!
What do you do with the brioth that is created after making the beans?
Use it like stock or broth!
http://www.ranchogordoblog.com/2009/01/poaching-an-egg-in-bean-broth.html
Oh, and don’t forget the water!! Beans plus onion plus garlic plus olive oil “That’s it” = a dry mess!!
Yes, that’s an important point!
How much water per pound of beans?
Low heat or high heat?
Mine is on high for four hours and then automatically kicks down to low until you get it.
I cover the beans by about 2 inches of water.
We just visited Rancho Gordo last week to see the source of your wonderful beans which I’ve been purchasing for two or three years now from Big John’s in Healdsburg or Oliver’s in Windsor. Your lovely staff let us sample some slow cooked pinquitos which were delicious so I bought some (and a few other varieties). She gave me this slow cooker recipe so I tried it on the pinquitos and they were just as amazing as the ones we tasted.
My husband’s Mexican grandmother taught me to make frijoles on the stove top and I have to tell you, I’ll never do it any other way than the slow cooker. No worrying about the pot boiling over (which happened frequently) and the flavors were amazing. We ate more than half of the pot! Thank you for your wonderful products and recipes!
Is the 4 hour cooking time for all beans? Pinquitos are much smaller than Scarlet Runner for example. Wouldn’t the cooking times be different? Is your slow cooker on low or high heat? I don’t want to ruin my wonderful Rancho Gordo beans!
It’s pretty safe they’d be cooked in four hours. I think the point of a slow cooker is that you use it while you’re away. If you’re at home, check often and get a feel for how long each bean takes, keeping in mind you lose heat everytime you lift the lid.
If the beans are done earlier and the cooker switches to warm, the heat is so low that it’s unlikely to overcook your beans.