"Kansas City" baked beans / Rancho Gordo

[das85]

Our Super Bowl party traditionally features food representing both teams...having done ribs and burnt ends the last two years, this year I'm looking to branch out a little and try a version of baked means that I can claim are KC to go with the cheesesteaks. I also joined the RG Bean Club last year so have plenty of beans on hand. AND we have several vegetarians attending so I'd like a recipe with enough oomph that it won't suffer too much from excluding the meat.

So far, the best plan I've come up with is this one: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...-beans-recipe/ using RG marcella beans, and a bottle of Arthur Bryant's for the bbq sauce.

Almost all the recipes I've found which claim to be "KC" start with a can of pork&beans which is out for multiple reasons..

So questions for the group:

1) Any suggestions how to make it "KC style" other than using a KC bbq sauce as an ingredient?
2) Does marcella sound like a good option for this? Also considering flageolet as an alternative?
3) Since recipe calls for canned beans, I think I need to cook the beans first in addition to soaking them. Does that sound right? Maybe carefully pre-cook them just to al dente? And then use the bean broth as part of the 3 cups water/stock the recipe calls for? I'm still learning the bean world and how to substitute dried for canned in different kinds of recipes and welcome advice!

[Draznnl]

I'm no bean expert, paging fzxdoc But since your Rancho Gordo bean are fresh, not dried, you might not need to soak them. Your idea of par cooking sounds reasonable to me, but I'd wait for the Pit's bean pros to pipe up.

[Mosca]

I agree with not soaking. I don’t even bother with the 15 minute hard boil that’s in the instructions on the bag; I bring them to a hard boil, then turn the heat down to simmer, and cover. Depending on the bean, it’s 60-90 minutes. Just spoon one out and check every 10 minutes (after 60 minute) until they’re done.

[WI Bubba]

I'd go to Slaps BBQ in KC and get the biggest container of their beans that they will sell you. They are some of the best beans I've gotten anywhere.

[das85]

It looks like they will sell by the gallon! But I will not have opportunity to travel KC and bring these back to NY with me. Putting on list for next time I'm in KC though!

[djl]

If I’m using Rancho Gordo beans for something like this, I like to do cook the beans a day ahead. Then use them basically like canned beans. Mostly because people have an expectation of what they texture should be.

[das85]

This is a particularly helpful idea given how much other cooking I'll be doing day of!

[fzxdoc]

I agree with Mosca in that there is really no need to pre-soak Rancho Gordo beans because they are fresher than anything you get from the grocery. If you do choose to soak them, though, discard the soaking water to get rid of any lectins*.

Soaked or not, you should, however, give them a good hard boil for at least 10 minutes followed by a gentle boil for 20 more minutes or so to kill off any remaining lectins, which are more prevalent in kidney beans than any other bean, but cannellinis like Marcellas apparently have higher lectin contents than some other beans. All dried beans have varying amounts of lectins depending on the bean variety.

I use this 10+20 min boiling method (before simmering until done) for cooking any dried bean for my family, to be safe, or I cook them in the Instant Pot, whose high heat takes care of the lectins in even unsoaked beans.

FWIW, this is what the FDA says about cooking dried beans to get rid of lectins:

Soaking the beans for a minimum of 5 hours and then boiling them in fresh water for at least 30 minutes will remove and destroy this toxin.

Deep Dive into lectins. (Best read during long commercials on TV. ):

*lectins = proteins that bind to carbohydrates. The same features that lectins use to defend plants in nature may cause problems during human digestion. When consumed, lectins in their active state can cause negative side effects. The most publicized accounts report severe reactions in people eating even small amounts of raw or undercooked kidney beans. They contain phytohaemagglutinin, a type of lectin that can cause red blood cells to clump together. It can also produce nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, and diarrhea. [2] Milder side effects include bloating and gas. (Source: https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard...ients/lectins/)


Cooking, especially with wet high-heat methods like boiling or stewing, or soaking in water for several hours, can inactivate most lectins. [6] Lectins are water-soluble and typically found on the outer surface of a food, so exposure to water removes them. An example is dried beans. To prepare them for eating, they are soaked for several hours and then boiled for several more hours to soften the bean, which disables the action of lectins. Canned beans are cooked and packaged in liquid, so they are also low in lectins. However, raw beans simmered at low heat such as in a slow-cooker or undercooking the beans will not remove all the lectins. (Source: https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard...ients/lectins/)

Aren't you sorry you asked?
Kathryn

[Purc]

No, now we know.

[das85]

Not at all sad I asked, thank you so much for the detailed and thoughtful answer! Since joining RG bean club I have mostly stopped soaking beans since they just don't need it.. But I remain intrigued by the q of what to do with soaking water and why - this is the best explanation I've seen.

I also have had great success following the RG suggestion of starting with a real 10-15mins boil before simmering, which sounds like it helps with lectins as well as just cooking.

Thanks again!

[jfmorris]

I try to caution my wife against using her Crock-pot for dried beans. She actually listened to me and did her black eyed peas on the stove on New Year's Day, for the first time. But I think that had a lot to do with the fact she didn't have TIME to do them in a slow cooker. And maybe those are lower in lectins than pintos...

[yakima]

In a previous thread fzxdoc has also discussed lectins. Even before I learned of lectins, I have rinsed, soaked, and boiled beans in fresh water. That routine may in part be based on growing up amidst field corn, wheat, and milo (and now, also soybeans). Raw grain is not really cleaned. Processing and packaging it cleans it some, but even Rancho Gordo says to look for rocks. As a kid, we occasionally would run out of popcorn. Mom would send me out with a coffee can to get some milo from a bin, to pop. Worked better than field corn, but certainly not cleaned. We never had mice in our big old house, perhaps due to plentiful mouse accessible grain.

[fzxdoc]

Thanks for that window into the past, yakima . We all were so trusting back then. "A little dirt never hurt anybody" was one of the parental mantras in my young life.

Spinaker mentioned once that we all should remember that farms are dirty places. Additionally, I read in a comment by an Indian gentleman in the NYT Cooking section that people who don't wash their rice have obviously never been to a rice packaging plant in India. I'm sure that translates to those in America as well. (I still shudder at the practices at that Boar's Head plant with all the processed meats contamination. Unrelated, I know, but still, no one looks out for our food safety like we do in our own kitchens).

Anyway, those observations have (obviously) stuck in my brain and are one reason why I super-scrutinize beans, dal, rice, etc, when washing them with (and I'm not kidding) two pair of cheap drug store glasses squished on top of one another over my eyes, mimicking a magnifying glass. Heaven forbid that someone in my family should break a tooth on a small rock. Or worse.

Kathryn

[yakima]

Apparently new profile pics are in order.

[jfmorris]

Haha yakima. Kathryn and me both need doubled up readers in our profile pic?

[Oak Smoke]

That brings back memories of watching my mom sorting beans and looking for rocks. If it wasn’t a normal looking bean it didn’t make in to moms pot. Then they were washed, then soaked over night, then the soak water bent down the sink and they got a final rinse before hitting the stove. She was a dirt and germaphobe. I never got her to try a pink steak.

[das85]

Circling back to the group with thanks to all for the helpful suggestions!

I made these Sunday and they came out really well. Did not pre-soak the dried beans; boiled for ~20mins and then simmered for I think just another 40ish and they were done.

A couple of notes on the recipe in case anyone else tries:
* The suggested conversion from canned to dried beans appears to be a typo - 3 cans should convert to 3/4 lb, not 3/4 cup. So scaling up to 1.33x recipe is a handy way to use a 1-lb bag of beans. The correct conversion is reflected on the AR Science of Beans page: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ence-of-beans/

* My smoker was full so I used my oven...and the suggested 2 hours at 225F did not appear to thicken it significantly. An extra 2 hours at 225 didn't help. It only started to thicken when I cranked up to 275, and then still took another couple hours to get there.

* I added garlic while pre-cooking the dried beans cause why not...and was not disappointed. I also used the bean broth where the recipe calls for "hot water or stock."

Will definitely be making these again! And next time will try with the bacon and/or under meat on the smoker if I don't have vegetarians to accommodate.