8 Tips for Cooking Beans Perfectly
Master cooking beans from scratch for better texture and perfect results every time.
- Fast cooking causes beans to break. Simmering keeps them whole and prevents sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- A tablespoon of butter, salad oil, or drippings, added to beans during cooking, keeps down foam.
- In hard-water areas and in high altitudes, increase the cooking time.
- Chopped onion, green pepper, pimiento, celery, herbs, or meat, added during the cooking period, will give a ton of extra flavor to bean dishes.
- Wait until beans are almost tender before adding tomatoes, lemon juice, vinegar, or wine because acid slows down the softening process.
- Stick a sample bean or two with the point of a sharp knife or a fork to see if they are tender.
- ln a pressure cooker, beans will not foam or clog the pressure vent if the cooker is no more than 1/3 full and if 1 tablespoon butter or drippings is added. Also, during cooking, the pressure should not fluctuate; at end of cooking time, remove cooker from the heat so that pressure will drop gradually.
- Cooked beans and bean dishes freeze well.
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