I'm trying to incorporate more beans into my diet and am finding it quite difficult to get my beans the way I want them to be. I'm curious to hear your guy's standard bean recipes. Do you guys use canned or dried beans? Stovetop or microwave? Any secret ingredients?

Here's what I'd call my standard bean procedure.

  • First, I start with canned beans. Dried beans are a bit firmer it seems, but I don't feel like dried impacts the flavor enough to be worth the soak time.

  • If I have it, I'll grate half of an onion into the beans. I don't like onion crunch.

  • Microplane dried mushroom into it for extra protein and flavor

  • Salt, pepper, granulated garlic, paprika and chili flakes. I don't really like how garlic powder works with the beans and don't feel the need for fresh garlic. Fresh ginger is really fire in it though. I add things on top of this usually for more flavor, but this is just my standard bean.

  • Microwave for 3 minutes

I'd do more if it made a difference in flavor, but so far I can't seem to make anything really make the beans pop. What do y'all do?

  • Are_Euclidding_Me [e/em/eir]
    ·
    11 months ago

    Huh, that first link of yours has me re-thinking everything I thought I knew. I may have to experiment more. I've definitely had beans not soften properly, and holding off on salting until the end fixes that. But the link you posted seems to suggest that at least soaking in salty water is a good idea. I've never tried that, but I think I will. I don't personally care about beans losing their structural integrity, but it's interesting that if you soak in salty water, the skins don't burst as often. Well, at least in this one experiment with cannellini beans.

    That's another question I guess I have. Do different beans react differently to salt? I think more testing is in order in my future. (Oh noes, I'm going to have to eat more beans! However will I cope!)