Page 12 - One-Dish Meals

Quick-Soak Technique
When time is of the essence, use this fast method: Combine the beans
and cold water in a pot and heat to boiling; cook for three minutes.
Remove from the heat, cover tightly, and set aside for one hour; drain and
rinse the beans. Although this process saves time, quick-soaked beans
tend to break up during cooking. In a chili or bean stew, a few broken
beans are not a problem. But if you want the beans to remain whole, for
a bean salad, for example, use the long-soak method.

Cooking Dried Beans
There is an enormous range of cooking times for dried beans. Use the di-
rections on the package as a guide, then taste often to check for done-
ness, because their age and relative dryness will affect the exact time.
Dried beans should always be cooked in soft water, or they will be
tough. If you live in an area with hard water, add a pinch of baking soda
to the cooking water. Because water boils at a lower temperature in high
altitudes, beans will take longer to cook at high altitudes; be sure they are
well-soaked and softened before cooking. Adding salt to beans at the be-
ginning of cooking toughens the skin and increases the cooking time.
However, beans usually taste better when seasoned early, so we often use
a minimal amount of salt when the cooking begins, then add the re-
mainder at the end.
Although the volume changes slightly with each bean variety, one cup
dried beans averages two cups cooked beans. Large beans, like limas, yield
about two and one-half cups, whereas small beans, such as black beans,
yield just under two cups.

12 Introduction