Recipes

A wonderful benefit of pressure cooking
beans is that they can be cooked without any
traditional “soaking.” There is a “Quick Soak”
method, see page 34, when you want to have
beans but don’t have time to wait. You might
sacrifice consistent texture throughout all the
beans with this method, but the time saved is
significant. That point aside, soaking is advis-
able, and the real question is for how long. The
purpose of soaking is to re-hydrate the dried
bean. Most beans are sufficiently re-hydrated in
four hours. To check, cut a bean crosswise in
half. If the interior is uniform (no opaque center),
the bean is ready to cook. If you have the time
and forethought, overnight soaking of 8 to 10
hours may be most convenient. See the chart on
page 42 for guidelines on which beans do and
do not need soaking. Beans that are thoroughly
re-hydrated cook more evenly than those that
are “Quick Soaked” and the skin of the bean will
more often remain intact during cooking.
With a thoroughly re-hydrated bean the
actual cooking time will also be greatly reduced.
A shortened cooking time has several benefits. It
will help retain valuable nutrients otherwise lost
through longer cooking, and it will save energy.
Because the beans are already hydrated, valu-
able resources (natural gas or electricity) will not
be wasted while the pot is on the stove and the
bean is going through this re-hydration proce-
dure. It will take more energy and be more
expensive if you include the soaking process in
with the cooking process.
It has long been a recommendation to add
salt to beans when they are soaking. This is only
helpful if the beans are soaked overnight (8 to
10 hours). If this length of time is adhered to, the
salt will toughen the skin of the beans and aid in
keeping it intact, which will lead to more even cook-
ing and a better shaped bean. Add 1 teaspoon of
salt for one pound of dried beans (2 cups). Beans
known for their tough skins, favas and soybeans,
require overnight soaking, but not the addition of
salt. Large lima bean skins tend to loosen during
re-hydration and salt is recommended.
To Soak
Or Not To Soak?
Lentils and split
peas do not require
soaking.
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