25 August 2017

The bean experiment


This morning I realized I hadn't taken any photos in a week. I guess I've been too busy with lost dog collars, dog surgery appointments, and of course cooking — but not things I felt inspired to take pictures of. So I thought, what am I going to write about today?



Well, today is the day I'm doing the bean experiment. That is, cooking dried beans (légumes secs) in mineral water that I bought at the supermarket. I want to see if the beans, skin and all, come out tender instead of tough. Our local tap water, which is pretty hard (calcaire), produces tough beans when you use it for their cooking. I tooke these photos this morning.



Nosing around in the cold pantry (le cellier) downstairs a couple of days ago, I found a half-empty bag of pinto beans. As usual around here, these are beans that are imported from Portugal, but there's no indication as to where they were grown.



I've had trouble cooking these beans in the past, and for years I actually gave up on cooking them at all even though I love pinto beans (haricots coco roses). They're the best beans for Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes (like chili con carne), I think.



I cooked white kidney beans in distilled water a couple of weeks ago and they were a success. Mineral water is actually less expensive, and it's more natural, I guess. I'm cooking the pinto beans with shallots, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and a hot pepper. I didn't soak them first, and I'll put in no salt until the beans are completely cooked. I'll let you know how they come out.

11 comments:

  1. Tenting on waiterhooks! Me no fan of tough skins....
    or beans that are just undercooked so that they taste gritty!!
    To me, those coco roses look an awful lot like borolotti which is one of my favourites....
    never thought of using them in a chilli....
    we use the bog standard, unimaginative red kidders or Black Canterbury if we are feeling flash....
    But these would look smashing in a pork version of chilli con carne.
    Black Canterbury are a black kidney bean.... we also use Cherokee Trail of Tears.... a slightly smaller kidney....
    which we occasionally grow with our pumpkins...
    But these look so pretty... gottagivemago!

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    1. There's an American chef/restaurateur in Chicago named Rick Bayless who specializes in Mexican cooking and foods. In his book Mexican Everyday he says the standard beans served in taquerias and other Mexican restaurants, especially in the northern part of the country, are pinto beans. (The same would hold true in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, etc., I think). The pinto is a bean we ate often when I was growing up in North Carolina too. So I was disappointed years ago when we arrived here to find the Portuguese-packaged pinto beans to be too tough and not good when cooked in tap water. The ones today, in mineral water, are better. We’ve tasted them and they are for lunch.

      I just got back from Intermarché and I found cans of pinto beans labeled Haricots Pinto. But when I checked out, the beans were called Haricots Beurre on the cash register receipt.

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  2. Great knds...

    I'm doing exactly the same thing with those very old French red kidney beans that were so tough a couple years ago. Last night, I put one third of a cup soaking in two cups eau déminéralisée with a tablespoon baking soda and a tablesoon alcohol vinegar. So far, it doesn't look promissing. I'll let the beans soak for as long as it takes. À suivre!

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    1. Of course, it is great minds! Sorry.

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    2. Everything I read says you should avoid vinegar and other acids in soaking and cooking liquids for beans. I didn't bother to soak the pinto beans. I just put them on to cook, and in about 2 hours they were done. The skins are slightly firm (I wouldn't say tough) but Walt said and I agree, the beans are good.

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  3. Great! I can't wait to read how this turns out. I hope it's a great success!
    Judy

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    1. I think the beans I cooked in distilled water were better that the ones I cooked in mineral water. Of course, they weren't the same beans, so I had too many variables for any scientific conclusions to be valid.

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  4. ..... and the jury is still out! I must v. humbly admit to buying my beans in tins.
    I love cannellini beans the best - they are good in a salad or on their own just with smoked paprika and salt.

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    1. I buy a lot of beans in tins (or cans — we used to call them "tin cans" in North Carolina), including some Portuguese-packaged pinto beans today. I also like the white "lingot" beans in cans. They resemble cannellini beans. Sometimes I find black-eyed peas in cans too, or black beans.

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    2. "Tin cans" is an expression I remember my uncle using when I was growing up. He had spent some time in USA when a young man, as well as several years in Western Canada.

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  5. Science in the kitchen! Interested to know how it goes.

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