Cooking and Freezing Beans in Bulk - Pressure cooker

[nckfitheart2009]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a cooking and freezing process for beans. I love beans. I could have different kind of beans up to 3x per week. I am cutting out completely the cans pre-packed ones.

It's high time I invest in a pressure cooker knowing how time consuming cooking beans from scratch can take.
https://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php#pulses

What are you thoughts on this?

What brand/make would you recommend?
I am more inclined to go for Tefal as it enable to open at a touch of button.

I found this ad amusing
Tefal Pressure Cooker - YouTube


Hope to ear from you.

 

[owltx]

I got a pressure cooker a couple of years ago and I love it! It is really great for beans, but I also make a great deal of soups, stews, etc in it - so good and so fast! And if you love artichokes - there is nothing like a pressure cooked artichoke, yum!

My words of advice: I would either buy or borrow from the library Lorna Sass Cooking Under Pressure (she is kind of the guru of pressure cooking) and America's Test Kitchen Pressure Cooker Perfection. I would start with Lorna Sass - she has a great discussion on pressure cookers in general, what to look for when buying, general tips, etc and then recipes. Jill Nussinow also has a great pressure cookbook (The New Fast Food) that is full of healthy recipes, but they are all veggie only, so might be limiting (her lemony lentil and potato chowder is a family favorite at my house). She also has a really good discussion on pressure cookers in general, what to look for when buying etc. I ended up buying a Fagor 6 quart, and have been very pleased. No trouble at all w/opening and closing. Lots of nice choices out there.

Just keep in mind (because I did not really know this going in) - yes, it is very fast but you still have to do the prep of getting things ready to go in, wait for it to all come to a boil ("come to pressure"), then cook (this is the fast part, 3-10 minutes), then lots of recipes tell you to let the pressure come down naturally, which can take another 10 minutes or so. Regardless, I can still have a great veggie-and-bean filled slow cooking tasting soup on the table in 30 minutes - awesome!

Good luck in your purchasing and pressure cooking adventuring!

hope this helps,
Stephanie

 

[desertambrosia]

I love my pressure cooker. I agree with Stephanie, do your homework. "Cooking Under Pressure," is a great book. Highly recommend.
Good luck!

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Thanks so much to both of you karen and Stephanie.

I will take every single advice on board

God stephanie, Yes I love artichoke. I do cook chicken and leak soup on bulk too. I can now imagine the time saving.

Should you need to add comment, please do not hesitate.

 

[TCB309]

A pressure cooker is the best way to cook beans often. I cook at least one batch every Sunday in mine and freeze the adzuki, anasazi and small red beans in single serve glass containers for quick lunches. I freeze black, cannellini, and kidney beans in larger containers for recipes. The pressure cooker also does a wonderful job on brown rice.

I have an older model Jenn-Air stove that has the glass halogen heat inserts. My old pressure cooker didn't work very well on it. I purchased an electric pressure cooker and love it.

Amazon.com: Nesco PC6-25P 6-Quart Electric Programmable Pressure Cooker, Stainless Steel: Kitchen & Dining

One negative, my electric pressure cooker takes forever to get up to temp to start the cooking process. I get around the issue by heating the water in my electric tea kettle first, speeds things up quite nicely. The tea kettle takes about 3-4 minutes where the cooker would take 20.

My sister-in-law has a nicer cooker, I think it is an Instant Pot, and she loves it. It was more expensive than mine, but she cooks a lot of things in hers. I just use mine for rice and beans.

Once you get a pressure cooker don't be afraid to play with it a bit to find what you like. I do the quick release on the steam for most of my beans, which most books say to use slow release. I like my beans to retain a bit of firm texture when I am putting them in salads or burritos, versus the very soft texture that I like to make hummus with. I do still soak the beans overnight even though some books say you don't need to and can just cook them longer. I found I just prefer them soaked.

I second, or third , the Laura Sass recommendation. Her book, Cooking Under Pressure, is an invaluable starting point!

Tonya

 

[Soapmaker]

Nathalie,

Take a look at this video from America's test kitchen. I usually go by their recommendations. I own many of their books and many of their recommended kitchen gadget. I have a membership to their web sites as annoying as they can be with all their levels and crap. Their recipes are very well tested.
What to Look for in a Pressure Cooker and the Test Kitchen's Recommended Brands - YouTube

If you can afford the Fissler, go for it. You can even save up and get it later. I don't have a pressure cooker but I use Fissler skillets and pots. Since I got them, they ruined for me every other pot I own. They hold and distribute the heat better than anything else I tested. I will save their price several times over in energy savings alone over the life of these pots.

This is the link to the Fissler pot:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fissler-600...7429&sr=8-31&keywords=Pressure+cooker+Fissler

A tip from ATK: when you soak beans overnight, add 1 tsp of salt to a 1lb batch. Rinse before cooking in fresh unsalted water. It does make a lot of difference in the texture of the beans and the way they cook without adding much sodium to the final product. If you are pressed for time, bring the soaking water to a boil and turn off the heat. They will be ready to cook in 3 to 4 hours depending on the type of beans. I never freeze them so I'm not much help there.

I will post the recipe for the high fiber muffin in the next few days.
Take care.

 

[ellenj73]

ATK Pressure Cooker Book

I have the America's Test Kitchen Pressure Cooker Perfection - and it is great! I have the Tfal pressure cooker for the stove top for smaller meals, and I have the Cook's brand one from QVC for larger meals. You will learn the tricks to cook with both types, don't be afraid of them. Just remember that you are cooking with pressure - so use the technique to let off pressure for the food that you are cooking. When cooking beans, they will foam a little. So don't overfill

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Hi Soapmaker,

Thanks so much for posting about fissler. I have taken into account all information and I am really eager to invest in a quality pressure cooker.

8L is too big for just myself. It's probably I would invest in long term for a family.

I will do more homework on this.

Kind Regards,

 

[Soapmaker]

Here is the recipe for the high fiber muffins. Nathalie, I'm afraid you won't find the ingredients easily on Amazon UK. If you decide to try them, I can send you a care package from the US. The resistant starch is type RS2. You can read about it on Wikipedia. It is made from a special type of Non-GMO corn and is not chemically modified. It costs about $3 to $5 per lb. I just bought a 50lb bag. The prices on amazon UK are ridiculous.

This recipe was born about of necessity. I had a dental procedure about eight weeks ago, after which I had to take codeine and an antibiotic for the first time ever. I had a horrible reaction to both which included completely destroying my intestinal flora. I stopped them on the second day but it was too late. I couldn't eat anything and probiotics weren't helpful. I remembered resistant starch out of desperation after 2 horrible weeks and decided to try it in muffins. I was back to normal within 48 hours of eating 2 of these muffins a day and some boiled chicken in chicken broth. I think people who follow the FODMAP diet may find these a useful addition to their diet.

Hi Fiber Muffins
(Makes 24 small muffins with 7 to 9 grams of fiber each depending on the contribution of the brand of coconut and brown rice that you use, and between 200 and 250 cal depending on how much fruit and nuts you add. You can cut the recipe by half.)
1 cup Brown rice flour
1 cup Hi maize resistant starch
2/3 cup corn bran
1/3 cup oat bran
1/3 cup wheat Gluten
4 TBS coconut flour
3 TBS wheat germ
2 TBS potato starch
2 tsp guar gum
6 eggs
2 1/2 to 3 cups low fat buttermilk
½ cup olive oil (or coconut oil melted)
2 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
1 ½ TBS baking powder and ½ tsp Sodium bicarbonate
Chopped dried fruits/ walnuts to taste (optional)
Mix all dry ingredients together. Whisk eggs, oil, vanilla, zest together (either by hand or using a hand mixer). Add buttermilk to egg mixture then add dry ingredients and mix until all combined. Mix in dried fruits/nuts. It should look like a thick batter. Resist adding too much liquid because the fiber will hold on to it and the muffins will never dry out during baking. Spoon into greased and floured muffin tins and bake at 350oF until the temperature registers between 200 and 210oF. If you like your muffins sweet, you can add 1/3 cup sugar to the mix. It will improve the texture a bit. For me, adding the dried fruit makes them almost too sweet so I don’t add any sugar. There is quite a bit of sodium from the baking powder. I use one that has calcium salt as its first ingredient to try to lower the sodium as much as possible.

You can omit the vanilla/lemon zest fruits and make the muffins savory. Add 1 medium diced and sautéed onion, 1 to 2 jalapeno (cooked same as onion), grated cheese to taste, 1 cup cilantro, and 1 tsp ground coriander. Alternatively, you can use any herb flavors you prefer like basil/ parsley or mint and parmesan cheese.

You can also bake them in small loaves and freeze them. Even with gluten included, they don't hold together as well as regular bread and they also don't last as long. They will absorb water from the air and become softer within 2 days. You can toast them. I tried to make them gluten free and so far I failed. They can be made with regular wheat flour too.