Goal - dry bean cooking / soaking / pressure cheat sheet on one page - please help !

worded

Hi,

Im average at dried bean cooking and newish to lentils. Friends have asked do they need to soak Lentils so there is a lot of confusion around .. .

I find a lot of packets difficult to read with small print.

Considering changing all "8-12 hours" to over night

I will get more photos a crop to fit on the left

There are some cheat sheets but a lot include pressure cooker times.

Different people say different times. can anyone share their thought on my cheat sheets and correct wrong timings if they see any?

When complete I will make a one page pdf of it and hopefully people will find it helpful


Thanks,

the beer revolu

In my experience, you can never predict how long a pulse will take to cook.
They are cooked when they are cooked.

Shenshen

I cook a lot of beans and lentils (kind of comes with being vegetarian), but I have to admit I never soak them.
Partially because that would mean knowing the day before that you want to use them the next day, and my husband usually can't answer "What do you want for tea?" until he's digested lunch. and partially because I find that soaking kidney beans and black beans in particular "washes them out". They lose colour, which makes the dish look less appealing, and (in my imagination anyway) they lose taste.

The cooking time can vary massively, depending on the type of pulse and the size. Red lentils will take something like 15 minutes, being small and skinless. And kidney beans may take an hour.
The only way to know if they're done is to try them.

worded

Shenshen wrote: »

I cook a lot of beans and lentils (kind of comes with being vegetarian), but I have to admit I never soak them.
Partially because that would mean knowing the day before that you want to use them the next day, and my husband usually can't answer "What do you want for tea?" until he's digested lunch. and partially because I find that soaking kidney beans and black beans in particular "washes them out". They lose colour, which makes the dish look less appealing, and (in my imagination anyway) they lose taste.

The cooking time can vary massively, depending on the type of pulse and the size. Red lentils will take something like 15 minutes, being small and skinless. And kidney beans may take an hour.
The only way to know if they're done is to try them.

OK interesting ...

While I was thinking this was a knowledge gap of mine it sounds more intuitive

Boardnashea

I usually buy a one or two kg bag of whichever dried bean and soak (at least overnight - sometimes 24 hours or more) and cook the whole lot. I then freeze in portions about the same size as two tins of the same bean. Can include some cooking liquid in each portion. Then I have 5 or 10 approx generous portions ready for the freezer or to use straight away.

Normal freezer bags are fine - try and remove as much air as possible. They come out of the bag easily and take up very little freezer space. Even cook and freeze enough for a second portion if you are doing one would be worthwhile.

rubadub

worded wrote: »

There are some cheat sheets but a lot include pressure cooker times.

you have to be careful with these recipes. Most will be presuming you are running at 15psi. It is difficult enough to get a 15psi here these days, many are 12psi. The instantpot goes to 15psi initially and then drops to about 11psi for the rest of the time.

Also the times are when pressure is reached, and then they usually let it cool down naturally. So even with the exact same pulses, cooker and pressure cooker if you did a batch with 1L of water and then next day did double the amount then you would need to reduce times on the double amount to get the same level of "doneness". This is since the heat up time will be longer with the larger amount, so it is cooking all that time, the cool down time is also longer as it has more energy stored up inside the pot yet the pot has roughly the same heat loss.

You will see instantpot recipes for rice in just a few minutes, but it is taking a good few minutes to heat up and cool down.

worded

Boardnashea wrote: »

I usually buy a one or two kg bag of whichever dried bean and soak (at least overnight - sometimes 24 hours or more) and cook the whole lot. I then freeze in portions about the same size as two tins of the same bean. Can include some cooking liquid in each portion. Then I have 5 or 10 approx generous portions ready for the freezer or to use straight away.

Normal freezer bags are fine - try and remove as much air as possible. They come out of the bag easily and take up very little freezer space. Even cook and freeze enough for a second portion if you are doing one would be worthwhile.

Can the beans go off if soaked for too many days? Ideal water temp, room?

What happens me is I sometimes end up not being able to cook as planned and have to keep in water a 1 or 2 extra days.

Is refrigerator advised after 1 day?

Shenshen

worded wrote: »

Can the beans go off if soaked for too many days? Ideal water temp, room?

What happens me is I sometimes end up not being able to cook as planned and have to keep in water a 1 or 2 extra days.

Is refrigerator advised after 1 day?

I think this is bordering very closely to food safety advise now, which is not allowed on this forum.
If you're not sure they'll be edible, don't keep them in the water.

To avoid keeping them in the water, you could boil them after the recommended soaking time, and then store them safely.

Boardnashea

worded wrote: »

Can the beans go off if soaked for too many days? Ideal water temp, room?

What happens me is I sometimes end up not being able to cook as planned and have to keep in water a 1 or 2 extra days.

Is refrigerator advised after 1 day?

They will probably start to ferment after a couple of days, so maybe the homebrew forum may be able to advise.