Thursday, March 6, 2014

Three quick bean tips

Beans are a staple for many people during Lent, but sometimes they make you feel like you've been eating staples. Here is what I have been doing. So far, so good.

1. Soak the beans overnight in water with a splash of apple cider vinegar, or any other acidic stuff.

2. When you first start to cook the beans, a bunch of scum will probably rise to the top. That stuff will make you fart. I tried for a long time to skim it off but never felt confident that I got it all. So now I just dump out all the water and scum from the first boil, rinse, and start over again. (I do this with bone broth too, by the way.)

3. Throw in a small piece of "konbu," a Japanese dried kelp. We got a package that should last us for a few years from our international store. Don't eat it, because it doesn't taste good. Just boil it in your beans like you would a bay leaf. It will supposedly impart lots of minerals to your beans.

If you are eating canned beans, I don't have any tips.

  Here is a nice video of some Byzantine Rite monks in France singing "Beneath Thy Compassion."

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