Should we have eaten that? Chili edition
February 24, 2023 6:10 PM Subscribe
About half the kidney beans never softened after cooking for 4 hours from dry (no soak). We ate them anyway.
The chili had black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans. About 1/2 the kidney beans were soft and the other half were still firm but we ate them regardless. I can best describe their firmness as edamame like. The kidney beans were a mix of new and old dried beans that had been sitting in a glass jar in the pantry for a long time. Google is telling me undercooked red beans are a very bad idea. Were they undercooked? What are the chances that my whole family is going to get sick tonight?
The chili had black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans. About 1/2 the kidney beans were soft and the other half were still firm but we ate them regardless. I can best describe their firmness as edamame like. The kidney beans were a mix of new and old dried beans that had been sitting in a glass jar in the pantry for a long time. Google is telling me undercooked red beans are a very bad idea. Were they undercooked? What are the chances that my whole family is going to get sick tonight?
Best answer: Firm after cooking generally means the beans were old, but NOT that they would make you sick like uncooked beans (i.e less than ten minutes boiling) could.
From personal experience, if you'd eaten under-cooked beans you'd know in an hour or so, and regret it.
posted by anadem at 7:13 PM on February 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
From personal experience, if you'd eaten under-cooked beans you'd know in an hour or so, and regret it.
posted by anadem at 7:13 PM on February 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Old dried beans never really rehydrate. I wouldn’t worry about it.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:21 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rhymedirective at 7:21 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
The "undercooking" is about temperature. Kidney beans have some lectins in them that will make you pretty sick which are destroyed by 10 minutes boiling. Sometimes if people slow cook, the water doesn't get hot enough that the kidney bean lectins are destroyed. "Undercooking" here doesn't mean time or water absorbtion.
You're probably in the clear. But if I may advise, you don't get good results mixing bean batches because of the cooking time differences. Better to revise the recipe to use less beans.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:19 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
You're probably in the clear. But if I may advise, you don't get good results mixing bean batches because of the cooking time differences. Better to revise the recipe to use less beans.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:19 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You're fine. The thing Google is talking about is people trying to slow cook red kidney beans in their crock pot without boiling them for 10 minutes first; a lot of people cook beans by dumping everything straight in a crock pot, and red kidney beans specifically need a 10-minute boil first before you do that. If you cook them in a pot on the stove that's not an issue.
The worst thing you're facing from undercooked beans on the stove is some indigestion, in my experience.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 AM on February 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
The worst thing you're facing from undercooked beans on the stove is some indigestion, in my experience.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 AM on February 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Old dry beans is the name of my new band. A pressure cooker sometimes gets them tender.
posted by theora55 at 7:33 AM on February 25, 2023
posted by theora55 at 7:33 AM on February 25, 2023
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posted by dum spiro spero at 7:02 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]