Beans: Dump soak/boil water or cook in?

[HotSun]

I'm on a quest to get more flavorful, creamy beans. Most recipes would have you soak or quick boil beans, dump that water and rinse the beans before putting into pot with final ingredients. I wonder if in doing so, I'm dumping favor, thick creaminess and nutrition.

Please talk to me about cooking them right in the water you soak or quick boil in. Pros & cons? What about not using pure water, but stock & seasonings to soak or prevail in to incorporate more flavor deeper into the beans?

Thoughts, experiences, cautions?

Respectfully,
JD

Dump the soak water, as it will mainly be the oligosaccharides that are lost, that little chemical compound that make you toot/foof/fart. Oligosaccharides (a pre-biotic) are slightly sweet, which you can taste in the soak water after a while (don't drink it).

I do a lot of beans, particularly black beans (living with a Brazilian, go figure), so here is what I do:

1. Soak the beans for 4-8 hours, depending on how old/dry they are, then drain before cooking
2. Drain, then soak again for another 4 hours... in other words, a double soak
3. I do not salt them; this makes the skin tough. Salt comes after cooking
4. I usually take some bacon grease or other oil and heat it in my pressure cooker (analog), saute some onions until translucent or carmelized, then add some fresh garlic and saute for a couple more minutes
5. Add the beans, cover with about an inch of water
6. Add a couple bay leaves, some pepper (ground black, cayenne, ground red....whatever, but I use only a little)
7. Add some acid: ACV, lime/lemon juice, other vinegar
8. Optional: add a little bit of cured meat, like cooked bacon, dried beef, sausage/chorizo, etc.
9. Add a little more oil to prevent foaming
10. Cook on high pressure (refer to a bean timing chart), then quick release
11. Add salt to taste

The exceptions to soaking are lentils and chickpeas/garbanzo, no soaking required, nothing gained or lost.

I was watching my sister-in-law (another Brazilian) make beans last month and she uses flour to thicken, which I do not do. YMMV, but I never add starch; it might add to the mouthfeel, but the beans will thicken after a day.

Other tips:

• Make your beans a day ahead; like roast beef, they are almost always better the second day
• If they are too soupy/wet for your liking, drain off the liquid and reduce that liquid over a medium heat, then reincorporate into the beans
• Adjust your cooking times to how al dente you like your beans
• Beans freeze well, so make a big batch and freeze for a quick go-to side dish
• To see if they are soaked properly, I will cut a bean with a knife. If the color is uniform, then they are ready to cook.
• Give a prize to whomever finds a bay leaf in their beans

The soak water has little to no value, IMHO. I hope this helps!

[Porkies]

I made the comment after making chili for family one day "Who got a bay leaf?" Everyone started digging but I had no prizes so there was disappointment haha!

[HotSun]

The prize is, you don't have to do dishes. lol.

[klflowers]

MsTwiggy so I did a bag of ranch Gordo Vaquero beans and my goodness they were excellent. No soak, bay leaves, sea salt, onion and garlic powder, a little cayenne and water. No meat. 35 minutes on high in the ip. A little sweet onion on them. Wow!

[MsTwiggy]

🤩😍🤩😍🤩😍🤩😍🤓😎🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻💯💯

[HotSun]

klflowers , that looks delicious! You can't go wrong with those ingredients for beans, and those are my base. I usually use a pinch/dash or two of cayenne in most of the beans. The Gordo Vaquero beans are a little pricey, but maybe I'll splurge and give them a try once.

[klflowers]

HotSun I thought their pinto's were my favorite, but I liked these more.

[hoovarmin]

Jessterr https://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/bo...JUL/12045.html

[hoovarmin]

Also, Jessterr -for the "seasoning packet" mentioned I use Sazon Goya with Coriander and Annatto, available in the grocery store in boxes with 20 packets.

[jjdbike]

Hello friends,
Thanks for all the input. I didn’t have time to wait for a special mail order of beans, though they do look & sound amazing. Perhaps next time, though I really need to spend much
less on food.
I did some Tex-Mex spicy bbq pinto beans. Came out great. Didn’t soak or pre boil. Of course I used cooking liquid, 1/2 of which was my homemade strong roasted chicken & herb stock.im very pleased and will do that again.
Thanks again!
JD

[klflowers]

You mind sharing your recipe? And if you didn't (it may be too late now) post a pic in the suwyc thread so we can drool and invite ourselves to your place for dinner lol