Do you use the crock pot to cook bean?
Posted by SnowQueen690 on Jun 05, 2008 · Member since Jun 2005 · 1569 posts
I just read this here (I am looking at home-made recipies for cat food) and it suggests using the crock pot to cook raw beans because it is requires the least amount of attention, and the lower temperature helps to conserve vitamins.
I hardly use my crock pot, now that that I read that, I think my crock pot is going to get a LOT more use. I can making a pot full of black beans for dinner...yum. :)>>>
I use a pressure cooker because it is so quick...my mother in law uses a crock pot when she makes baked beans.
I usually cook beans in the crockpot...either over night or during the day while I'm at work. It's awesome.
duh! Why didn't I think of this before?!?!?! Of course that would be a great way to cook beans!
i loooovvveeee the crockpot for beans!!! this is the only way i will prepare dried beans- i dont even rinse them first. i just usually throw them in at 7 am- with onions, peppers, garlic, seasoning, veg broth, water and thats it. i turn it to low, go to work and when i return- bout 8 hours later, they are awesome!!! i dump some minute rice in there and some browned torfurkey and its ALL GOOD IN THE HOOD DUDETTE!!!
enjoy,
veronica
You would still have to soak them overnight first, right? And then once they're done soaking you just cook them on low for about 8 hours (with water to cover several inches), and they'll be good to go?? I'd love to try this!
I don't think you HAVE to soak them first, but it certainly is an option. My experience with beans in a crockpot comes from the blackbean crockpot soup recipe on this site. It's absolutely delicious--thickened leftovers also make for great burritos--but I find that if I cook the soup without soaking before I definitely feel more gassy later on :-[ My guess is that it depends on how much you are affected by beans' side effects...
I'm sure it affects the cooking time, though. I don't have a suggestion on that quite yet since I haven't played around with it enough.
yeah- i dont usually soak them. sometimes i do, oftentimes, not. i really can not taste. smell. or see the difference in my beans, or in gas eruption whether i soak or not. i always use the dry mixed bag of beans; for the assortment and all. its more interesting and awful pretty!!
veronica
I'm cooking beans today....for the first time on my own. I'm just using a regular pot..and a bean mix from bulk. I didn't think about cooking them until earlier today..so I'll let them soak for a couple of hours or so.
I'm cooking beans today....for the first time on my own. I'm just using a regular pot..and a bean mix from bulk. I didn't think about cooking them until earlier today..so I'll let them soak for a couple of hours or so.
Girlie girl, use the "quick soak" method!! It's the only way I soak beans, because I never think about it the night before, all of the sudden, I want beans!! Cover the beans w/ boiling water, let em sit for an hour. Works like a charm :)>>>
I'm cooking beans today....for the first time on my own. I'm just using a regular pot..and a bean mix from bulk. I didn't think about cooking them until earlier today..so I'll let them soak for a couple of hours or so.
Girlie girl, use the "quick soak" method!! It's the only way I soak beans, because I never think about it the night before, all of the sudden, I want beans!! Cover the beans w/ boiling water, let em sit for an hour. Works like a charm :)>>>
I'll remember that next time! We'll see how these come out! ^-^
I use a pressure cooker because it is so quick...my mother in law uses a crock pot when she makes baked beans.
I have both, but I always use the pressure cooker because I don't have much space and the crockpot ends up plugged in on the sitting room floor. And as you say, 20 min on the stove beats something bubbling away all day or all night and having to remember it's there in case you get up in the dark for a drink of water.
I :)>>> my Magefesa!
I just read this here (I am looking at home-made recipies for cat food) and it suggests using the crock pot to cook raw beans because it is requires the least amount of attention, and the lower temperature helps to conserve vitamins.
I hardly use my crock pot, now that that I read that, I think my crock pot is going to get a LOT more use. I can making a pot full of black beans for dinner...yum. :)>>>
I do use my crockpot, but let me preface that by saying, if you have any red kidney beans in the bunch, you MUST follow certain steps for safety with them, as improper cooking can KILL you. With red kidney beans, you must presoak and change the water, and then in new water boil rapidly for no less than 10 minutes to remove all the chemical in the bean that is dangerous, then change water and cook however you want. There have been many cases of people cooking red kidney beans without boiling and becoming very sick or dying. I can give a link to that:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-acer&p=red%20kidney%20bean%20poisoning&type=
Having said that, my favorite bagged bean mix is HamBeens 15 Bean Bean Soup. It comes with a 'ham' flavor packet that is soy based, no animal product. It also has a very good recipe on the back where you add things and I add all except the hamhocks. Meat is generally used to soften beans from the grease and so they cook faster and get soft, so since I don't use meat or meat grease, I add T olive oil and it works just as well. This mix does have red kidney beans in it, and so, this may sound like a pain, but it really isn't. The night before I sort and rinse the beans, then put in a large pot of water with LOTS of water. You don't want to just cover them, or they will absorb it all and they'll be nothing to pour off. After about 2 hours, before I actually go to bed, I pour it off and put fresh. When I get up in the morning, I pour it off and put fresh and boil for 10 minutes. I pour that off and put in my crockpot with water I heated in a tea kettle, so it doesn't take so long to come up to hot again. Then I put everything (subbing the olive oil) in except the flavor packet and any salt, and add them about 30 minute before it's done. This method gets rid of the toxic substance (same one that causes stomach distress and gas) so well, that you would not even have known we had eaten beans. We had no gas at all.
These were truly delicious.
I did see a Kroger bean mix that had 16 beans, but it had animal product in it.
I do use my crockpot, but let me preface that by saying, if you have any red kidney beans in the bunch, you MUST follow certain steps for safety with them, as improper cooking can KILL you. With red kidney beans, you must presoak and change the water, and then in new water boil rapidly for no less than 10 minutes to remove all the chemical in the bean that is dangerous, then change water and cook however you want. There have been many cases of people cooking red kidney beans without boiling and becoming very sick or dying. I can give a link to that:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-acer&p=red%20kidney%20bean%20poisoning&type=
I might die then..
I'm not sure if our mix had kidney beans...but seems like it. I'm feeling ok though...
I am interested in this gas reduction though.
Ah! Thanks for the info about the kidney beans!
Ally, another really bad thing about books instructing people to just use a crockpot is that they are taking it for granted that everyone has a new one that heats from the sides and gets really hot enough to boil. People who are still using the old kind that heat from the bottom and don't boil could actually kill themself. If you read the articles from the link, you can see that it is a problem that happens often enough. The first time I heard of it was years ago when some college students, about 6, who were trying to be naturalists were all found dead in the sleeping bags after cooking them on a campfire. Better to be safe, and besides, who wants all that gas!
Ally, another really bad thing about books instructing people to just use a crockpot is that they are taking it for granted that everyone has a new one that heats from the sides and gets really hot enough to boil. People who are still using the old kind that heat from the bottom and don't boil could actually kill themself. If you read the articles from the link, you can see that it is a problem that happens often enough. The first time I heard of it was years ago when some college students, about 6, who were trying to be naturalists were all found dead in the sleeping bags after cooking them on a campfire. Better to be safe, and besides, who wants all that gas!
I cooked mine on the stove in a regular pot! BUT I have noticed some..effects..from the not rinsing (I think).
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, during that important 10 boiling rapid period, you'll see a white foam come to the top - THAT IS THE STUFF YOU WANT OUT! Skim it off with a big spoon. That's why it's important to have the water above the beans by several inches, so you can easily skim it off and it doesn't just hang around on top the beans. :)
Wow, I had no idea about the red beans. You know, I have cooked red beans, I had no idea about the foam, but I got foam, I thought it was gross, so I dumped it off, replaced the water and then there was none of that gross foam anymore. I had no idea I what I was doing could have saved my life!!!
I'm of the non-soaking persuasion. That's why I like cooking beans in my crockpot--that and the fact that you can cook them overnight and not have to worry about burning them.
well, only the red kidney beans are the ones you have to worry about,the rest are ok. But, you know, since I found out how well it did it away with gas, I just started doing it with all beans so I didn't have to worry about running out to the store and embarrassing myself as I walked along!
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