Dried Beans

A bare-bones method that assumes the cook already knows what a pot of beans should look like. The useful details are in what it leaves out.

• Soaking ratio and timeCover the beans by at least three inches of cold water; they roughly double in volume and will drink more than you expect. Eight to twelve hours is the intent of "over night" — much beyond that at room temperature and they begin to ferment, which is what the warning about warm water is really about.
• Salt timingThe instruction to season "a few minutes before tender" probably reflects the old belief that salt toughens beans. Current practice runs the other way: salting the soaking water and the cooking water seasons the interior and is generally held to give a softer, less blowout-prone skin. Butter is better added at the end regardless, so it does not cook away.
• "Cook slowly in boiling water"This means a bare simmer with the surface barely moving, not a rolling boil, which shreds skins and clouds the pot. Start with the beans covered by an inch or two of water and top up with hot water if they threaten to go dry.
• How long is tenderDepending on variety and age, 45 minutes to 2 hours after an overnight soak. Beans more than a year or two old may never soften properly, and hard water or an early addition of acid — tomato, vinegar, molasses — will slow them badly.
• "Little liquid remaining"The pot is reduced almost dry. If you want the cooking liquid as a sauce, pull them when they are just tender and reduce separately rather than boiling them down in the pot.
• The lima croquettesMash the cooked beans, bind with egg and a little thick white sauce or crumbs, chill until firm, then crumb and fry. A wet mixture is the usual failure; drain the beans well and let the mixture set at least an hour before shaping.
• YieldOne pound of dried beans is about 2 1/4 cups dry and yields 6 to 7 cups cooked — six to eight servings as a main course.