Red Beans and Rice--Presoak or no?

Question

I have an old New Orleans Junior League cookbook with what looks like a good recipe for red beans and rice. They don't say to soak the beans beforehand, but just to cook them for 2.5 hours. Does this make sense? Package directions say to soak the beans overnight, and then cook for 1.5 hours. Is an extra hour enough to make up for not soaking? 

I am irritable and tentative about cookbooks and beans right now because I made a bean soup recipe recently from a French cookbook that had you add 2 cups of wine to the cooking water. The acidity made the beans take 6 hours to cook so I had to come up with something else for dinner. Being Friday tomorrow and all, I'd just as soon not have to think fast.

Answer

Tonight we had a batch of Buster Holmes' red beans and rice. The beans were washed (per the recipe), cooked for approx 2 hrs and came out perfectly: tender-soft, intact, not disintegrated and tasty. FYI - I used small red beans.

Answer

I'm an advocate of not soaking beans. I find it unnecessary. Beans will cook fine without soaking. It may take a little longer but it climates the hassle and extra step of soaking. If cooking in a conventional method like a heavy pot, the oven will make your life easier. Beans on the stove will need to be monitored and stirred. In the oven the temperature is much more steady and you can put them in and forget about them for a couple of hours. Do check them for doneness. The only beans I soak are garbanzo beans prior to making falafel and then you just soak without cooking. 

I also wanted to add that you can salt your water before cooking so the beans will have better flavor. Salt will not prevent beans from cooking. ACID will in fact keep beans from cooking. That's why your beans too 6 hrs to cook. Add acid at or near the end.

Answer

If you want them to cook faster; soak 'em. Otherwise, it isn't necessary.

Answer

I have always soaked my beans, just because I thought they were better. Well last week, I wanted beans and I wanted them now. I boiled them hard, for a couple hours. Then went on and make them as I normally do. Guess what? They were terrific.
I usually soak overnight and cook in the crockpot. I probably will continue to do it this way, but absolutely if you don't want to wait, they will be just fine. Just don't salt the water.

Answer

I don't know specifically about red beans, but in general larger beans (not, for example, lentils or split peas) are soaked, drained, rinsed and cooked in fresh water for a few reasons:

1) Nutritional: to reduce the amount of phytic acid. Phytic acid chelates various minerals and prevents their absorption.

2) Gas. According to what I've read, Cook's Illustrated toyed with this. Soaking removes stachyose, a particular oligosaccharide (they're small chains of carbohydrates). These are difficult to digest and you wind up producing gas.

3) Cleanliness. Beans are dirty, and a soak is better at getting rid of dirt than just rinsing.

4) Cooking speed. By soaking for several hours -- if you have the time to do so - you've done a lot of the rehydration.

Some people feel salt keeps the beans tough; some people say acid. In my experience salt is the culprit; I add it towards the end of the cooking time.

Answer

I never pre-soak red beans when I make red beans and rice. Depending on how old the beans are, they take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. I don't see the point in soaking beans for many hours to save an hour of cooking time, and, anyway, I want the vegies and ham to really "melt" into the pot liquor, so don't want the beans to cook too fast.

Answer

I soak my beans overnight prior to making red beans and rice when I want them to cook up more quickly the next day. Sometimes I'll just cook the whole pot of red beans and rice (with the sausage and spices, etc) overnight on a very low heat. The time it takes is the deciding factor for me.

For pinto beans (frijoles de olla), I just put the beans in my bean pot with spices, onion, and garlic and bake 'em in the oven for a couple of hours. Plenty of time to get plenty tender. So I've cooked from both soaked and not soaked. Just don't cook in either case with salt in the water, it toughens the beans up.

Answer

Thanks for all of the thoughts on this. I'm still a little torn. I still have time to soak them today (I'm west coast), but I am curious about the recipe as written, and several people have said this will work as written. By the same token, the nutritional reasons Richard 16 mentions are intriguing. At any rate, it's nice to know that on some level, to soak or not to soak isn't really an issue!

Answer

From personal experience, I'm convinced it has to do with the freshness of your dried beans. The one in big bags at the grocery store might have been picked a decade ago, and been shuttled between storage, the packing plant, the distributor and the store. When I do buy these suckers, I soak them, and pout because I've clearly run out of good beans.

Now good beans are a whole different story.IMO, heirloom beans taste better, they cook faster, and they've just got a heck of a lot more character. It's like Paris Hilton vs. Marilyn Monroe. One's just a cheap, modernized, and pretty gawd-awful shadow of the other. Heirloom beans don't need much prep, and I don't presoak. Of the ones I've tried, Rancho Gordo beans are my favorites.

Answer

Pressure cook 'em. Fast and delicious. Doesn't anyone use pressure cookers any more?

Answer

I'm from Baton Rouge, LA and I say soak the beans, rinse the water, put in a cast iron dutch oven and cover them with water, chopped onions, celery, bell pepper, and lots of garlic, and smoked sausage that you've already sauteed with the grease left in the pot, and Tony Cacheres seasoning. Let simmer until done, and they are delicious.

Answer

Soak those beans pleeeease! See this: 
http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtosoak.html
Thank you! Don't mean to gross you out, but really. SOAK THE BEANS THEN WASH THEM! Peggy, Licensed Vocational Nurse.

Answer

We always used Camellia beans when we lived in LA and those things cook fast, soaking was not necessary. I'm sure part of it is that they are very fresh for dried beans. Other brands I soak.

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Red Beans and Rice--Presoak or no?

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