Soaking is not enough: another basic cooking question

[cjsmith]

I've heard of two ways to break down the oligosaccharides (*toot*!) in beans and legumes.

- Soak overnight, then drain and rinse thoroughly
- Boil for a while, then drain and rinse thoroughly

The recipe I made yesterday actually called for BOTH of these. I did them both. They were not enough.

I am willing to believe I simply don't know what I'm doing, but I also know that there are certain explanations I am no longer going to accept because I've tried them and they don't work. Never in my forty years have I succeeded in eating beans or legumes without trouble. Anyone who says that I'll "get used to" (as in: no longer produce gas after eating) certain things is just plain wrong. Anyone who says that soaking or pre-boiling is sufficient is also just plain wrong.

I realize that I may be somewhat unusual. I have a coworker who can't eat certain kinds of beans at all, as her inability to digest certain compounds will send her to the hospital. I might simply be someone who will always have trouble with this stuff.

What else do I need to do? Is there a big step I'm missing here? Or should I, as I have on several previous occasions been close to deciding, simply give up on this kind of food?

Comments

[kethryvis.livejournal.com]

A bit off topic but since you're cookin' bean soup (mmm bean soup) and said you've been veggie before...

What can you flavour good old fashioned bean soup with that *isn't* meat? My family is from Alabama, so we're navy bean and ham bone or bacon types (mostly ham). However, dating a veggie boy makes that non-workable if I want to be able to share my bounty. Any suggestions? (one of my favourite dinners this time of year is navy bean soup and cornbread. Yummy!! However, due to lazyness I've been defaulting to Bean with Bacon soup. Once I get myself a crock pot, however, that will change!)

And as others have said... AFAIK, soaking them/pre-cooking them seems to be more for reducing overall cooking time than anything else. My mom always presoaks her navy beans, but she's never said anything to me about it altering any, er, chemical processes... just making them softer and easier to cook.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Man, I wish I knew! I can look in a cookbook or two when I get home, and see what they suggest. When I was veg, I was more of a lentil girl, with ginger and turmeric and all that good curry-ish stuff.

Crock pots rule. I love being able to dump a bunch of stuff in there and not worry about it until I get home. I doubt I'd have the patience for soup otherwise. :)

Re: researchers

[kethryvis.livejournal.com]

I HEART ME A CROCK POT!! I am dying to try my hand at soup making but I agree.. NO patience. I'd rather throw it all in the crock pot, turn it on, come home and have soup :) Plus, it makes the house smell amazing.

I saw a crock pot several years ago that had a divider in it, so it was a 32oz crock pot *or* two 16 oz ones. Talk about awesome! Now all I've seen is ones that are divided so you have two sides, but you can't join them together to be one big crock pot. I will not rest until I find one. Durnit!

Re: researchers

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great feature! Maybe if you find the permanently-divided ones, they'd at least have an alternate crock without the divider.

Me, I'm okay with just my $20 Rival 4-quart, but boy was I glad this weekend that (because of a long-ago party) I happened to have TWO of them. A pound of white beans plus all the veggies and water and stuff... suddenly it wasn't a 4-quart recipe! Whoops!