Dried Beans to Pork & Beans


 
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The subject line probably makes no sense. Please forgive me. I have a couple of bean recipes I really like and they all call for canned Pork & Beans. I would like to start with dried beans. Can anyone give me general idea of how to approximate canned pork & beans with dried beans? I'm assuming basically some tomato sauce. I'll skip the hunk of fat.
Thanks.
Joe
 
Made sense to me.

I can't stand canned 'pork and beans' as the quality of both is often crummy, the other ingredients are of low quality, the flavors are dead from overcooking, and the spicing/flavoring is poor, inadequate, and frequently too sweet. Many people like them but still want a way to use dry beans instead of canned stuff.

No need to try to re-create pork and beans as a single ingredient. It is easier (and often better) to adapt the recipe on the fly. Cook the dry beans as usual, and flavor with salt, pepper and onion. Then, look at your recipe and decide what, if anything, needs to happen to adapt the recipe during the cooking. Often it is nothing, or nothing more than a (very) few flavor additions that are better and more easily figured out prior to or during the making of the final recipe rather than trying to make the 'pork and beans' part of it separately. If you want more specific examples give me better idea of the recipe(s) you're working with and I can make some suggestions.
 
When I read that post earlier...I knew it was a perfect one for you know who! I too am tired of sweet bean mush. Yea bacon helps as do other additions but starting with real dried beans makes a real dish.
 
I've had the best results with dry beans when I've cooked them in unsalted, plain water until they're done. Once they're done, do what you will to them.

Once, I soaked two pounds of black beans overnight and cooked them two different ways. The ones that cooked in plain water were done in an hour or so, but the ones I cooked in a tomato base never did get "done." I had the same thing happen when I added raw potatoes to a catfish stew base. The outside of the potatoes were tough, even though the inside was tender. Maybe that's why it's a heresy around here to add potatoes to our tomato-based pine bark catfish stew. I've had catfish stew with potatoes in it, but it wasn't tomato-based.

D
 
David, if you want beans that have a nice flavor and won't split and get mushy during the cooking process, use a 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt to 8 ounces of dried beans during the cooking (I never soak my dried beans), but it might take slightly longer to cook them to your desired doneness. The salt firms up the beans' skins but IMO improves the texture of the final dish because the beans will remain whole.

Keep in mind that tomato products do contain some salt...and acid. It's best to add tomato (acid) products after you have cooked your beans to the texture that you like.

Kevin will probably have even more scientific information on why this happens. I look forward to hearing all that too!

Being always in a hurry, I use the pressure cooker to cook my beans.

Rita
 
Indeed, acids in the water lower Ph and can affect cook times. If the Ph is too low the beans take forever to cook because of the affect low Ph has on cellulose. Low enough--lower than you'd normally experience--and the skins simply won't soften. But relatively low Ph, common when tomatoes, molasses, prepared mustard or the like are added, will add time to the cooking but they'll eventually get there.

A big deal is minerals and their affect on cellulose. Calcium, in particular, toughens cellulose. Hard water? Beans won't soften.
 
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