I usually soak the beans overnight but they still remain hard then I go on to boil them for two long hours wasting to much time and energy. does any one know a quicker way. I though that the pressure cooker might be good. Please help. Thanks
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Yes. Try do it.
I can think of no way to say this and not sound like a complete ego freak, so I’ll just note I finished writing a cookbook about soup, including bean soups, so I’m very familiar with this problem.
I pretty much NEVER use dried beans in soup for exactly the reasons you describe. It takes forever to soak them and cook them, even in a pressure coooker (though the pressure cooker method is usually used if you forgot to soak your beans), and so many things can go wrong. If you have hard water, they’ll end up feeling like you’re chewing dirt. If you add salt to them too soon or cook them in a liquid with any salt in it, they’ll shrivel and crack…
Consider using canned, instead. It cuts the cooking time A LOT, it allows you to keep your vegetables fresher and more crisp, guarantees you nice, tender beans every time, and lets you make smaller quantities of soup more easiliy. If you would like a couple of recipes using canned white beans (or cannellini beans), here are a couple of mine that have gone over well:
Fasolatha
2 cans Cannellini beans (do not drain)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 large carrot
1 1/2 ribs celery
1/2 onion
1/2 cup olive oil*
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 T celery leaves (roughly chopped)*
1 T tomato paste
1 T fresh Greek oregano
2 t fresh thyme
pinch cayenne
salt
Peel and thinly slice carrots. Thinly slice celery. Peel and chop onion.
Heat olive oil in a stock pot, over medium high heat, until hot. Add carrots and saute for five minutes. Add celery and onion and saute until onions begin to turn translucent.
Stir together chicken stock, tomato sauce, and tomato paste until tomato paste is completely dissolved.
Add cannellini beans (including their liquid), chicken stock mixture, and white wine to pot. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for twenty-five minutes.
Add celery leaves, oregano, thyme, and cayenne and simmer for an additional five minutes.
Remove from heat and season to taste.
*No, really… half a cup. And good olive oil, too… don’t punk out on this. It makes the dish. And yeah, you literally just rip the leaves off your head of celery.
Senate Bean Soup
4 cans white beans
Chicken stock (about 1 1/2 quarts)
2 smoked ham hocks
1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
2 ribs celery
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
Safflower oil
Salt and pepper
Drain liquid from beans and add enough chicken stock to make two quarts of liquid. Thoroughly wash beans and set aside.
Finely dice onion and celery. Crush garlic.
Add just enough safflower oil to the bottom of a stock pot to thinly coat it, and bring to heat over medium-low heat.
Add onion and celery, and sweat until vegetables soften. Remove onion and celery, and add garlic. Cook garlic until fragrant.
Add stock mixture and ham hocks to a stock pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until ham hocks are tender (about 45 minutes), adding water or additional chicken stock as needed to maintain liquid levels.
Remove ham hocks, and stir in mashed potatoes until smooth and creamy. Then, add white beans, and return onions and celery, to stock pot.
Remove meat from one ham hock and finely chop up. Return chopped ham hock meat to soup.*
Return soup to a simmer and reduce heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are very tender and just start to break open. Stir in parsley and allow to simmer one minute.
Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
*If you prefer more ham in your soup, you may chop up and return the meat from both ham hocks to the soup. Should you desire a “leaner” ham in your soup, discard both ham hocks after simmering to remove the flavor, and add 1/2 pound very thinly sliced country ham instead (I suppose you could substitute Prosciutto if you cannot locate a good aged country ham, but really, to make this an all-American dish with an all-American flavor, find the country ham).
White Bean Soup with Sausage and Smoked Turkey
1 lb. Italian sausage links*
8 oz smoked turkey meat
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
2 cans cannellini beans
1 red onion
2 ribs celery
1 bell pepper
1 carrot
3 cloves garlic
1 cup white wine
1/3 cup celery leaves
1 t paprika
8 threads saffron
2 bay leaves
1 sprig oregano
2 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
3 sage leaves
6 peppercorns
salt
Bring a stock pot to heat over medium high heat.
Slice Italian sausage into 1/2 inch thick medallions, and add to stock pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage browns.
Remove sausage from stock pot, and add carrot. Saute for ten minutes, then add onion, celery, and pepper, and saute until vegetables just start to become tender around the edges. Add garlic and saute for an additional minute. Remove vegetables from pot.
Add chicken and beef stock, and wine. Using a double layer of cheesecloth, tie saffron, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, and peppercorns into a bouquet garni.
Add bouquet garni and bring to a simmer. Simmer for fifteen minutes.
Add cannellini beans to pot and simmer an additional ten minutes. Remove bouquet garni.
Return sausage and vegetables to pan, and add smoked turkey and paprika.
Simmer until ingredients are warmed through, then add celery leaves.
Remove from heat and season to taste.
*This doesn’t have to be the really expensive stuff if you don’t want to, you could use Eckerich or Hillshire farms if you like… it’ll work out just fine. Or, if you prefer, just crumble in a pound of bulk italian sausage, that works just fine, too.
Yes, definitely.
You don’t need to soak them if you cook them in the pressure cooker, just sauté the onion/garlic/sausages (if you use any of them) in olive oil before, add the paprika and the beans and water and close the cooker. It will take approximately 40 minutes to get them tender and ready.
My mother has been making the beans in the pressure cooker for years, they are good!
Your pressure cooker will probably include a list of cooking times, so perhaps, in order to be safe, you could check what the time for beans is.
Good luck!
** Actually, if you are making kidney beans try soaking them the whole day & night before making them.
Soak the beans overnight with a dash of salt. The salt helps tenderize the beans.
In a slow cooker, add the beans and other ingredients, and cook on med for 7-9 hours. That will make it tender. There’s no quick way to do it unless you start cooking it overnight on low, and when you wake up, turn it off and reheat before eating.