Bean Cooking Protocols from the THIRD WORLD
PLANET
IN RECESSION? BEEF SKY HIGH? How do we feed our faces when meat is 6$ a
lb or maybe in the case of fish, veal, lamb, double that? Eat CHICKEN ALL
THE TIME? No, there HAS to be something more interesting than chicken.
Well, how about FREE BEANS? If you have a sunny plot of earth outside,
you can do rows of beans. They need string or wire, sticks to hold them
up off the ground, but they make a very pretty picture out there. Enrich
your soil with home made compost and you will get big ole high mineral
beans. It doesn't take more than a few handfuls to make dinner for two.
So, How do delicious dinners like PROVENCAL BEANS with ham chunks sound to you? ON SALE Ham is 77c an lb at Easter. Buy a few, chop into pieces, freeze them all. Simmer to rid them of their chemicals and then add to your beans which are almost l00% cooked, for a last, short simmer.
Or how doex MEXICAN BEAN TACOS strike you? Slathered in SALSA VERDE de tomatillo, cilantro, jalapeno? Or BEANS NEW DELHI STYLE lightly curried on a bed of basmati RICE. Or New England Beans with molasses and dollops of barbecue sauce cooked in? Again some pork.
These things sound tasty but you have never gone for it before, right? Why? Well A.) you weren't poor enough and B.) beans are social suicide. Or have been til now. There's an ART to COOKING DRIED BEANS one well known to the third world. I have googled up some TIPS FOR PREVENTING GAS in the intestines. This simple method trains the delinquent bean to have a healthy life.
Two things help: Brining the soak water not cooking water, prevents bean skin breaking and inside getting mushy you want creamy inside! FIRM SKIN OUTSIDE is necessary but also a fully soft bean inside. LOW TEMPERATURES during an unsalted simmer, comes next. Last, SALT when cooking is over.
Dried beans also are easy to prepare. They have, however, gained a reputation
for being hard to digest and are known to cause a little flatulence or
"gas." To help eliminate this problem, try cooking dried beans like this:
Soak dried beans overnight in highly salted water which you will discard
when you rinse the beans before cooking. Soak all night or at least for
five hours. (This isn't necessary for dried peas or lentils.)
Discard the water, rinse well, add fresh water, cook for half hour NO
SALT
and discard the water. Rinse beans thoroughly until water runs clear.
Cover with fresh water and cook until tender. NO SALT. This method
will help prevent "gas," which is caused by complex carbohydrates
(raffinose sugars) that are not broken down in digestion. When they
ferment
in the large intestine, they produce carbon dioxide, hydrogen and a
little
hydrogen sulfide, that can cause gas.
If you want to include more beans in your diet, but increase your "comfort
zone" with them, you should: Start slowly by eating beans only a couple
of
times a week at first. This helps your body adjust to digesting them.
Drink lots of fluids to help the digestive system handle the increased
dietary fiber. Soak and cook thoroughly to eliminate the raffinose
sugars that
make beans hard to digest.
Other helpful hints for cooking beans are to add one tablespoon of oil
to
beans to keep the foam down while cooking. If your recipe calls for
tomatoes, lemon juice, vinegar or other acidic foods, add these items
after
beans are tender. The presence of acid keeps beans from softening too
much
and busting thru their skins.
Also, contrary to advice you may have heard, DO NOT use baking soda
when
cooking beans. It robs them of their nutritional value.
USA WEEKEND MAGAZINE:
Soak and rinse beans several times to remove gas-producing sugars,
USDA
researchers advise. Always change the water before cooking.
Adding garlic and ginger, dried or fresh, to a cooking pot of beans
can
reduce the beans' gas-producing properties, according to research in
India.
Supermarket anti-gas products, in pill or powder such as Beano and BeSure,
can help.
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY:
Beans are full of starch including some that do not digest easily.
Digesting this starch can produce gas, giving rise to the rhyme Beans,
beans, the musical fruit.... There are several ways to quiet this music
so
you can enjoy the health benefits of beans.
Gradually increase the amount of beans you eat, so your digestive system
can adjust.
Soak beans overnight then discard the soaking water. Some, but not all,
of
the hard-to-digest carbohydrates dissolve into the water and are then
poured off.
This quick method also helps reduce gas: Cover beans with water. Bring
to a
boil for 2-3 minutes. TURN OFF FIRE.
Let set at least one hour, but preferably four hours.
The longer beans soak, the more gas-causing substances are removed.
So what do they call that element in the bean that gives gas?
So far it is unnamed. Want to give it a name? THE POOT FACTOR?
FARTOLE?
NOW, what to do with finished beans?
SAUTE bacon or pork pieces in lite oil, pick out, use paper
towel to get animal fat off pan. Replace with olive oil.
Saute onions, garlic, grated interior of ginger root, not skin,
Olive oil always, (no canola or corn as it has omega 6 which will kill
ya)
Add drained beans, mash, slowly add some bean liquid.
Til it's smushy.
SERVE in Heated corn tortillas which ou turn over the FIRE, stack in
a
cloth napkin. That's for quesadillas or tacos. Cheese is optional
and should be melted into the beans or into the tortilla,either method
is fine.
MAKE THE FAMOUS SALSA VERDE. 6 tomatillos husked, cut up simmered, 4
min
in water with cleaned jalapenos. Fry onions, garlic, add the tomatillo
mash, cilantro by the fistful. Salt/Pepper.
Let everyone ladle their salsa verde onto the bean tacos. or INSIDE
rather.
NOW, on your marks get set, go, BEAN EXPERIMENT!
Later, the bean masters experiment with beans frozen for six mos.
see if there are bean changes. How about beans stored for a year on
shelf?
Give us your research! We need BEAN TACTICS
to get us thru what WALL STREET DID TO AMERICA
http://www.masterjules.net/meltdownwebpage.htm
You can go with HINDU flavor, adding cumin, curry to beans,
then serving on hot basmati rice. Dollop of dill/yogurt.
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