Pressure Cooking Dried Beans

**Durgan** · 10-29-2011, 02:14 PM

29 October 2011 Pressure cooking Dried Beans 29 October 2011 Pressure Cooking Dried Beans

Most of the dried beans purchased from a bulk food store were pressure cooked and play a large part in my diet. Beans must be thoroughly cooked to digest without difficulty. It is almost impossible to over-cook dried beans, except the whole white common navy beans which I do not use, due to its high starch content.

Method: Selected are about four cups of a mixture of all the beans,which makes a lot of finished product. The beans are washed and boiled vigorously for about 20 minutes. The water from boiling is discarded and the beans rinsed. The beans are placed in an colander insert and placed into the pressure cooker. The rim of the pressure cooker is wiped with vegetable oil to prevent the gasket from sticking. In general never use a pressure cooker without an insert, which will prevent bubbling particles from clogging the rocker port and prevent the safety port from blowing out. A blow-out spreads a mess all over the kitchen, and takes about two hours to clean up.The insert prevents water from touching the beans, thus they are steam cooked at 15 PSI for about 90 minutes.

After the beans are pressure cooked, they are placed in a pot and the pre-prepared condiments are added as per your choice. I use ketchup and molasses as a base and add almost anything available to suit my taste. The beans are then boiled gently for about 30 minutes to insure adequate mixing. The pressure steam cooked beans will absorb a lot of water so add the necessary water to get the consistency desired. After cooling, those that are not for immediate use are placed in plastic containers and frozen until required.

**Darlene** · 10-29-2011, 02:42 PM

Something tells me you've had a turn at cleaning up after a "blow-out".

Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

**Durgan** · 10-29-2011, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Darlene

Something tells me you've had a turn at cleaning up after a "blow-out".

Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

So true. The blow-out was years ago when I wasn't quite dry behind the ears. I read the books and they ignored the insert issue. The material cooked, in general, shouldn't touch the water. The produce should be steam cooked. Peas soup is another that can cause problems without the insert.

A pressure cooker should't be used for fresh vegetables, since they turn to mush too quickly. The cooker is wonderful for a roast. It is quick.

**peanut** · 10-31-2011, 08:48 PM

Thanks for this post. I bought a pressure cooker this summer off a lady who was moving and downsizing. I just used it to make chili tonight. I'm curious about your 90 minute steaming time. My beans take a total of 60 - 90 minutes on the stove normally. And I only boil them 1-2 minutes before letting them sit for an hour, and then draining them and adding fresh water before cooking. Wondering what the advantage is to steaming them over cooking in water? I use the water and beans in whatever dish I'm having anyways.

**Durgan** · 11-01-2011, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by peanut

Thanks for this post. I bought a pressure cooker this summer off a lady who was moving and downsizing. I just used it to make chili tonight. I'm curious about your 90 minute steaming time. My beans take a total of 60 - 90 minutes on the stove normally. And I only boil them 1-2 minutes before letting them sit for an hour, and then draining them and adding fresh water before cooking. Wondering what the advantage is to steaming them over cooking in water? I use the water and beans in whatever dish I'm having anyways.

I suspect your beans are under cooked. Mind you, there are some beans which take little time to cook, Lentils and some others take little cooking. With beans it is best to have them over-cooked than under. I seldom use the common white navy beans, due to the high starch content and they turn to mush too easily.

The steam cooking in the pressure cooker prevents the loose particles from foaming up and clogging the rocker on the pressure cooker, and eventually blowing the safety port. Hence the use of the insert, which leaves enough space for water, which basically doesn't touch the beans.

**greekislandgirl** · 11-01-2011, 07:43 AM

Yeah I gotta say, I would never make beans if they took that long to cook. I cook dried beans several times/week. We're 99% vegetarians and they are a major part of our diet.

I put soaked beans into the pressure cooker and barely cover with water. I close the cooker and turn the electric burner to high. As soon as it reaches full pressure (takes about 3 minutes on my stove), I turn off the burner completely, but leave the cooker on the burner. I let it release pressure naturally, which takes about 8-10 more minutes. The beans are then ready to eat. They are not undercooked at all. I have a very sensitive stomach and can't eat beans cooked any other way.

The same method works with rice, lentils, potatoes, carrots, etc. I use my pressure cooker at least 5 times/week and couldn't live without it.

I think you may be wasting electricity with your method. One of the main reasons I use a pressure cooker is to reduce our electricity bill!

**shp1055** · 11-01-2011, 09:05 AM

where do you get an insert for a pressure cooker? I've had 2 of the 6 qt size and I have a 16 qt for canning & it has a rack, but I've never seen an insert.

**peanut** · 11-01-2011, 12:03 PM

Mine came with an insert. Maybe check the website for your particular pressure cooker and see if there's a parts list anywhere. There is for mine. You can buy any part of it over the Net now.

**Durgan** · 11-01-2011, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by shp1055

where do you get an insert for a pressure cooker? I've had 2 of the 6 qt size and I have a 16 qt for canning & it has a rack, but I've never seen an insert.

I bought a colander about 20 years ago and cracked the spot welded handles off with a hammer, with a sharp blow. Now the colanders are all from China and the wrong size and shape unless you are lucky.

A convenient always available insert is the butterfly device used for steam cooking. They even come in different sizes. The feet are about two inches and keep the food in the pressure cooker from touching the water. http://www.kitchenstuffplus.com/Cate...t-Inserts.aspx study this page.

**Durgan** · 11-01-2011, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by peanut

Mine came with an insert. Maybe check the website for your particular pressure cooker and see if there's a parts list anywhere. There is for mine. You can buy any part of it over the Net now.

The supplied insert is too shallow.

**Durgan** · 11-01-2011, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by greekislandgirl

Yeah I gotta say, I would never make beans if they took that long to cook. I cook dried beans several times/week. We're 99% vegetarians and they are a major part of our diet.

I put soaked beans into the pressure cooker and barely cover with water. I close the cooker and turn the electric burner to high. As soon as it reaches full pressure (takes about 3 minutes on my stove), I turn off the burner completely, but leave the cooker on the burner. I let it release pressure naturally, which takes about 8-10 more minutes. The beans are then ready to eat. They are not undercooked at all. I have a very sensitive stomach and can't eat beans cooked any other way.

The same method works with rice, lentils, potatoes, carrots, etc. I use my pressure cooker at least 5 times/week and couldn't live without it.

I think you may be wasting electricity with your method. One of the main reasons I use a pressure cooker is to reduce our electricity bill!

How much better life would be if you changed your methods, even slightgly. I use gas for cooking and have no desire to save any money even if I had electricity. My motive is nutritional, digestible food.

**greekislandgirl** · 11-02-2011, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by Durgan

How much better life would be if you changed your methods, even slightgly. I use gas for cooking and have no desire to save any money even if I had electricity. My motive is nutritional, digestible food.

Excuse me??? Why would my life be better if I were throwing money away on electricity? This is a FRUGAL site.... but please, tell me how I can improve my life that you know nothing about by using a different method of cooking beans...

Sheesh...

**Durgan** · 11-02-2011, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by greekislandgirl

Excuse me??? Why would my life be better if I were throwing money away on electricity? This is a FRUGAL site.... but please, tell me how I can improve my life that you know nothing about by using a different method of cooking beans...

Sheesh...

Whatever turns your crank.

**peanut** · 11-02-2011, 02:36 PM

Durgan: why are you being so touchy? We're just asking questions because we truly want to understand. My beans are verging on mush if I go over 90 minutes. They aren't undercooked. I cook them a couple minutes. Let them soak for 60 minutes. Drain. Add water. Cook for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

My insert actually goes to within one inch of the top of the pot.

If the beans truly do steam and hold their nutrients better, then I'm all for it. I guess what I'm asking is, does the boiling method destroy nutrients then? Is that what you're saying?

**Durgan** · 11-02-2011, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by peanut

Durgan: why are you being so touchy? We're just asking questions because we truly want to understand. My beans are verging on mush if I go over 90 minutes. They aren't undercooked. I cook them a couple minutes. Let them soak for 60 minutes. Drain. Add water. Cook for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

My insert actually goes to within one inch of the top of the pot.

If the beans truly do steam and hold their nutrients better, then I'm all for it. I guess what I'm asking is, does the boiling method destroy nutrients then? Is that what you're saying?

Pressure cooking by definition is steam cooking. The general view is that steam cooking leaves the nutrients in the product. My view is the water should not touch the product being pressure cooked.

Utilizing steam vegetable cooking, there is little leaching into the cooking liquid. Usually steam vegetable cooking is done with a butterfly device that keeps the product away from the water in a normal pot with a lid.Obviously, if the liquid is utilized when cooking in water the nutrients are probably still available. How often after boiling have I seen the liquid from potatoes discarded, and for that matter from many fresh vegetables.

I might add that oven cooked in a heavy pot, so called Dutch oven is another ideal method of cooking, for many vegetables. Potatoes and squash. Nuking also has the merit of being quick but probably not as tasty as oven cooking.

A pressure cooker does a poor job on most vegetables, since they cook so fast that they are mush.

When I make a stew, which is seldom, the chunks of meat is pressure cooked until tender, then the vegetables are added in a separate pot, where the two are combined, and cooked until done.

I read a study by the prison doctor at Sing Sing Prison in 1885, and he mentioned that many prisoners had stomach/gas problems due to beans being a large portion of their diet. He stated that the toilets had large quantities of feces laced with quantities of beans partially digested/fermented in the intestine . He attributed this to under-cooking of the beans. This is what first made me aware that he might be right, or at least something to reflect upon.

I cook the beans about every ten days, and always have the other beans available either in the freezer or currently opened in the frig. The soy beans are always blended similar to baby pablum. These are eaten daily for breakfast and I have been doing so for probably forty years. The other beans are eaten later in the day as part of my typical meal, along with one or a combination of my many preserved juices.

In addition evidenced by the current obesity in the general population and the many health issues as the population ages, it is apparent that some drastic changes are necessary in the diet. Not the only issue, but one that the individual can address.

Further I suspect the typical NA diet is slowly killing us. Tasty and a joy to eat but not healthy. To improve change is necessary. All it takes is shift in mind set.