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Beans

  • 200 g Dry Beans
  • 1 t Medium-Grain Salt
  • 1 T Lard or Clarified Butter
  • 1 Onion, halved
  • Spices, to temper
    • 2 Garlic Cloves, lightly crushed
    • 2 Dried Red Chilis
    • 1 t Cumin Seed, ground
    • 1/2 t Coriander Seed, ground
    • 1/2 t Dried Marjoram or Oregano Leaves
    • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 1/2 t Dry Epazote Leaves, ground
  • 1/2 t Medium-Grain Salt
  • 1 t Baking Soda
  • Water or Chicken Stock
  1. Sort out any shriveled, discolored, or broken beans.
  2. Brine. Add beans and salt to a large, unsealed container, and add enough water so that they may double in size and remain submerged. Soak 8-24 hours, at room temperature.
  3. Drain and rinse beans, discarding the soaking water.
  4. Temper spices. Heat lard in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion halves face down, and fry 4 minutes. Stir in spices to coat evenly, and temper 60 seconds.
  5. Cook. Add beans and baking soda to saucepan and enough water to cover them by 1-2 cm. Boil 10 minutes. Reduce to simmer, cover, and simmer 30-90 minutes until beans reach desired texture --- add epazote a few minutes before removing from heat.
  6. Rinse beans in cool water.
Why brine the beans?

"Brining provides water to soften the beans and reduce cooking time, while simultaneously producing beans that do not burst while cooking to the desired soft, creamy texture."1

Why discard the soaking water?

Soaking beans removes lectins, which frequently causes indigestion.2

Why add baking soda?

"Beans cooked with a tiny amount of baking soda... cook in about half the time as beans cooked without."1

Store cooked beans up to 3 days in water and chilled.

  1. Crosby, Guy. "Cooking with Dry Beans: Food Science Insights and Strategies from Dr. Guy Crosby." Interviewed by Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN, FAND. The Bean Institute. 3 August 2020. ↩↩

  2. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004. ↩