Any thing acid makes beans stay hard....things like brown sugar, tomatoes...prepared mustard and of course vinegar.
Fat does nothing....and a pinch or a little more of baking soda, will speed up the softening.

I'm of the low and slow camp when it comes to cooking beans.

I have always heard that adding salt at the beginning will take longer to soften and for sure if the beans are old they can cook for hours and still be hard. So now I cook the beans until tender and then add the salt.

It's not the salt that keeps beans from softening, it's acids.

Looks like it might have been wishful thinking on my part, hoping I had found a way to speed up things. I do add tomatoes sometimes, but always later in the process when the beans are already softened. And I don't add salt so that wouldn't figure.

My version of soaking is to put the beans in a pot of water and keep it warm for hours. I turn the burner off when I go to bed, and the next day I'll turn it up high so the beans will get to boiling and then I'll keep it hot as long as I'm nearby. If I'm outside working on things I'll turn the burner down so I don't have to worry about it boiling over. So it's an up and down process that goes on for days) and eventually the beans go soft. I try to mash some of them when they start to soften up a bit. The black beans take much longer than the pinto beans...I've read here that the opposite is true, so perhaps the coop, where I buy these organic beans, gets a fresher supply of the pinto beans.

I've also never heard of adding oil to beans to speed up the cooking process. I'm in the CindyMac camp: Low and slow : )

For basic beans I've used the same method for years. Soak at least 8hours. Usually overnight. Rinse, bring to a boil 5-10 minutes or so in a pot twice the volume of bean.

Put on a low simmer, (I have a front burner that stays around 190-195.)

Or I turn it off after the boil, lid on, and let it sit if I have errands or other things to do.

Depending on the type of bean and age of bean, it takes 1-3 hours usually. Low and slow.

Steve Sando is the bean King. Nice article in last weeks NewYorker. I just ordered some of his heritage beans. HERE

They cook much faster in a pressure cooker, which is what I always use. For garbanzos and black beans, I do add a pinch of baking soda, but not for pintos.

I remember Rancho Gordo from Mouthfulsfood. I think he also sells chilies or chili seeds.

Yes Lars, I thought if I get an inkling to make DH his favorite soup beans and hamhocks, I'd try it in the IP pressure cooker. Would be so much easier!

I've been cooking a lot more beans since I got the Breville PC and they turn out just as well in the PC as they with the slow cook method. Presoaked they take less than 20 minutes. Some as little as 15 depending on the bean. Not counting the time it takes to get up to pressure.

Thanks ann_t. I have found that heating liquids in the microwave reduces the pressure build-up time : ) Made risotto with no pressure build up time by zapping the broth first.

2ManyDiversions, Yes, if the liquid in the PC is already hot it does take substantially less time to get up to pressure. Just one of the reasons that I also sear meat in a cast iron pan and deglaze with broth before adding to the PC. Although the PC will sear, it takes longer. A high sided pan never sears as well or as quickly as a shallow pan.

Unless your beans have been languishing in the pantry for years, you don't need to soak them. If you want to speed them up, cook them in the oven.

I bought a large bag of Navy beans from a quality source.

First batch I soaked overnight and they cooked in 15 minutes after reaching pressure.

Second batch cooked the same week I didn't soak and they took longer to cook. Had to reset for anther 5 minutes. So my experience is that soaking does make a difference.

Stove top, I bring the beans to a hard boil. The package says to boil 2 min., I do it for 4. Turn off the flame and cover for an hour or so. Same as soaking over night! Then drain and use in your recipe as if you had soaked them!

Jbclem, the req'd cooking time of beans varies widely. Depends on how old the beans are. With pintos, the pressure cooking time can vary between 15 and 25 minutes, IME. If your newly purchased beans are taking a long time to cook, you need to find another source. A store where they have a quick turnover. (I've ordered them from growers in the past and got great beans that the owner of a Mexican food restaurant ordered for me.). Best ones that I ever had were some that a friend of my dad's got straight out of the bean combine in Kansas.

With pintos, a good clue to the age is the color of the beans. Dark beans are old beans. Light colored beans indicates a fresher bean.

I've done the speed soak, the overnight soak, the all day on simmer cook, even tried cooking them in a straw box. Since discovering pressure cookers a few years back, that's pretty much my default method.

I cook a lot of pintos but find that I'm using more black beans these days; seems like they take about the same length of time or a little less than pintos. No way to judge the age of black beans by just looking at them.

Don't much care for Great Northerns or navy beans but they do cook quickly.

Have also cooked cranberry beans & Anasazi beans but there isn't much difference between them and pintos so I just buy a Big bag of pintos.

Ann, I have pressure cooked beans, but it's not my usual way. I get how the exact hydration level would matter since there's the time building up pressure to consider, and you can't check them. Soak would give you the best chance of having the same hydration level each time.

For just cooking them, rinse and sort, put in a pot with plain water, put them in a heavy covered pot with plenty of water and put them in the oven for about 45 minutes.

OTOH, if you want to sprout them to release more nutrients and make them easier to completely digest, you can soak them for several days, changing the water 2-3 times per day until a nubbin or short tail appears.

Plllog, I have over the years cooked beans both ways. Stove top as well as baked. It has been a hit and miss as to whether I soaked or didn't. They always turn out although the times varied depending on which bean and whether they were soaked.

I actually like them cooked in the PC.

In fact maybe I'll soak some navy beans tonight and cook them in the morning. Moe loves them for breakfast with toasted baguette.

Ann, how much water do you use when you pressure cook beans? I normally just eyeball it and it's fine. With pressure cooking, it seems to need a more exact amount.

I do the same Pllog, I don't measure. I add enough to cover and then a little bit more. Maybe up to an inch over the beans.

Thanks, Ann. I'll give it another chance.

Funny, but I have 4 pressure cookers and rarely use them for beans. I've been cooking more flageolet the last few years, pinto and white northern not as often. I soak overnight in the refrigerator and have since that was first suggested to me. Old beans, new beans, any variety - they always seem to come out tender with the long cold soak.

My bean order came in from RanchoGordo. I used Steve Sandos method I posted above. Similar to how I've cooked beans for years but I did the olive oil, onion, garlic and fresh rosemary, then salted and spiced when tender. Perfect. Small batches of three different beans. (half cup each). All cooked to tender in 30-45 minutes.

RanchGordo in the NYTimes, HERE

I’m always asked to bring my beans to get togethers. If i can find it I only use salt pork and don’t add additional salt. My crockpot is a little small to put them in right away, so I will do them in the oven and then transfer to the crockpot to keep warm. Here is the recipe if anyone is interested. They are really good. I also like to use a variety of beans, black, navy, kidney for colour and interest. Sometimes I don’t use all the molasses as we don’t like things too sweet, but most people would use it.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/recipe/comfy-baked-beans

Louise

Like Annie, I always use the crockpot and have never had hard beans. I don't like the way raw onions taste when added to a crockpot for some reason so I always sautee them first. I usually make a sofrito with sauteed onions, garlic, chilies, tomatoes, spices, meat if I'm using it, etc and dump it in the crockpot with the dried beans and water or chicken stock. So mine have some oil and salt and acid and they always come out perfectly.

I do it old school - pick over, rinse well, cover w/ cold water and soak until a broken bean shows no white in the center - adding water as necessary to keep them submerged, then bring to a boil and simmer until soft. I often add a couple of bay leaves, but no salt, seasoning until they're cooked.

I agree about old ones taking longer to cook, that's been my experience as well.

Lentils and black-eyed peas are in a different category.

Yes, adding oil can make cooking beans faster, but not that much.

With oil, water cannot evaporate as fast, and as a result the temperature of cooking rises higher faster to 210F.

dcarch