52
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Does chilli get milder with cooking?
You'll sometimes hear television cooking show hosts describe what they're doing as "cooking out" the paste. What they're actually doing is altering the flavor of the chili itself, not manipulating the ...
- 4,084
36
votes
Accepted
Can beans be overcooked?
Beans can absolutely be overcooked.
Coffee beans aren't really beans--they're seeds from a fruit--but they are very temperature sensitive when roasted. There is a wide range of roasts, but dark roast ...
- 9,047
28
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Why are beans I soak myself always smaller than canned?
Dried beans swell when soaked, and swell further when cooked. Your question implies that you are only soaking, not cooking the dried beans - which would both mean they would not get as large as the ...
- 16k
25
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Are red beans supposed to look pruney when soaking?
It's normal for beans to sometimes do that during the first stages of soaking, particularly if you soak them in boiling water. They should plump up and become normal after 40min to an hour.
- 61.4k
24
votes
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What does it mean to sort beans?
Sorting means a few things:
Remove foreign objects like small stones, other seeds, twigs.... that may have accidentally been packed with the beans.
Remove damaged (think insect damage, for example) ...
- 58.8k
22
votes
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Substituting black beans for ground beef in a meat pie
I often use beans instead of meat, and I think you'd get away with it, but your concerns are certainly valid - it might come out a little dry. It partly depends on the proportions, especially of the ...
- 43.8k
18
votes
Why are canned beans softer than the ones I soak myself?
Since it sounds like your goal is just to make creamy/smooth hummus, not necessarily to exactly duplicate canned beans, I'd suggest soaking with salt and baking soda (15g salt and 5g baking soda per ...
- 58.2k
17
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How to make homemade pinto beans taste like canned refried beans?
Lard is the fat of choice in many "el cheapo" canned refried beans, and could be what you are missing.
- 5,468
17
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How to cook dried red beans faster?
If you want to reduce total preparation time, you can skip the soak. Then you can just boil for about 4-6 hours, instead of soaking overnight. This is not a tradeoff most cooks are willing to make, ...
- 137k
17
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Why are canned beans softer than the ones I soak myself?
Canned beans are pressure cooked for quite a while.
A fairly stock bit of advice on boiling beans for hummus is to go longer than a typical time you might find on the bag as a recommendation for ...
- 16k
16
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Are these Red Beans or Red Kidney beans?
Though people seem to consider them 'the same thing' they are actually not. There is a 'red bean' distinct from a kidney bean.
What you have there, though, are kidney beans.
I found a couple of ...
- 29.9k
15
votes
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Is Foul Fair? (Or what is this mystery bean)
These are fava beans, the term "foul" (uncommon transliteration) on the pack hinting at a dish that these beans are typically used for:
A ful, a stew-like dish of cooked and spiced beans from the ...
- 58.8k
13
votes
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Do I need to soak fresh beans?
No, you don't need to soak fresh shell beans.
Unlike their dried counterparts, shelling beans don't need a soak before using. Most fresh shelling beans require from 20 to 30 minutes to cook
The ...
- 2,480
13
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Can fresh (frozen) beans be added directly to stew?
It worked phenomenally!
I quick-released my stew ~5 minutes earlier than usual, added the frozen beans (no extra water needed- the beans were just covered by the liquid) pressure cooked on high for 7 ...
- 473
13
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Why are beans I soak myself always smaller than canned?
There’s different varieties of chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Canned chickpeas I’ve seen have all been Kabuli, a large and light-colored variety. Dried chickpeas in bags are an even split between Kabuli ...
- 27.2k
12
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Why is it so rare in the US to get kidney bean poisoning?
As the question you linked to says, canned beans are cooked thoroughly, so there's no issue. Pretty much the point of canned food is that it's ready to eat; if something required further cooking it ...
- 58.2k
12
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Can fresh (frozen) beans be added directly to stew?
I see instructions for pressure cooked frozen butter beans, which call for 4 minutes at high pressure, followed by about 10 minutes of natural pressure release. So, I would certainly add them at the ...
- 73.8k
12
votes
Substituting black beans for ground beef in a meat pie
Beans make for a good pie, but not one that tastes or feels much like beef. From your question, particularly the last line, it sounds as if you might actually be looking to imitate the flavor and ...
- 227
11
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Are these worms in my black eyed peas/beans?
I have noticed the same thing that the OP asked about. I opened one of my soaking beans, and looked up some drawings; this is most likely part of the bean, not worms. The reason could be that the ...
- 111
11
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How to make homemade pinto beans taste like canned refried beans?
My first guess would be: more salt than you think. This is probably the main "secret" for most processed foods.
Ortega Traditional Refried Beans have 560 mg of sodium per serving (that's a serving ...
- 515
10
votes
Does chilli get milder with cooking?
From long cooking, the capsaicin could distribute throughout the food in a way that will make it more palatable, but the capsaicin content will not drastically change.
If this does not suffice: In a ...
- 15.3k
10
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Why do most (all?) recipes call for cooked rather than dry beans?
Because the amount of liquid, time, and environment needed to cook dried beans will affect the finished result.
Beans absorb and require a very high proportion of water. A lot of people either presoak ...
- 101
9
votes
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Are my cannellini beans safe?
It is normal for store bought canned beans to have a cloudy liquid. This applies to previously dried, starchy beans such as cannellini, kidney, etc.
The water will get cloudy also when you cook ...
- 18.3k
9
votes
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Cooking kidney beans that just started to sprout a little
This is totally safe to eat as long as you cook them. The taste and the texture would be a little bit different than what you use to though.
Here is an article about the safety of eating sprouted ...
- 1,081
9
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Can I make "falafel" with different beans?
Yes, you can, however if you want to use red kidney beans, or white kidney beans (cannellini), please boil them at least 30 minutes at 100 °C, otherwise you might suffer from food poisoning.
Source: ...
- 216
8
votes
How do I convert a weight of dried chick peas to volume of cooked?
I have just cooked 290 grams of dried chickpeas which filled 1 cup, in a pressure cooker. After cooking the drained weight was 616 grams or 2.12 times the dry weight. The volume was 3.75 cups or 3....
- 81
8
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Is Foul Fair? (Or what is this mystery bean)
I'm pretty sure that's fava beans. It's usually transliterated as ful, but seems close enough. See for example ful medames - the first word in Arabic on your package is the same as the first one there....
- 58.2k
8
votes
Accepted
How do I cook beans without having too many that are split?
Beans split because the seed coat isn't soft enough when the interior of the bean rehydrates.
Two factors that can help ease this problem:
soak your beans to make sure the seed coat is well ...
- 47.5k
8
votes
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Is there a use for bean juice - the cooking liquid of beans?
It can be used as an egg substitute in various baking applications; search with the keyword "aquafaba" to learn more about this.
Also, it is used as a thickener in some bean-based dishes (eg common ...
- 15.3k
8
votes
How to cook dried red beans faster?
What is the dish you are trying to make?
If you are looking to soften the beans quickly you can use a pressure cooker.
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