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gtr

On 2015-09-02 13:48:09 +0000, said:

>>> Pick through beans for any bad ones or stones. Rinse 2 or 3 times,
>>> cover with water, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook
>>> for 2 hours, stirring occasionally and checking if more water needs to
>>> be added.
>>
>> Never even drain them and replace the water?
>>
> Why? What purpose does that serve besides adding cooking
> time to your dish?

I'll take that as a no. The soaking water leaches out some chemicals
that makes them more gassy.

>>> After 2 hours check for doneness/ tenderness and if done add salt, stir
>>> and cook for a few more minutes.
>>>
>>> If I'm adding cubed ham that will be added after about
>>> an hour when beans are becoming tender. Continue cooking
>>> on a simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Check for doneness
>>> and add salt.
>>
>> Okay, so that's approximately 2.5 hours.
>>
> Possibly. I do know that it takes no more, probably even
> less, time to cook a pot of white beans.

I wonder if there's any significant different between Great Northern
and cannellini beans. the GN's work fairly okay. I prepped them as
indicated upstream, then browned some onions, seared some lamb
shoulder, added garlic and some other noise, then the beans and
simmered, purportedly for 1.5 hours. I boiled them for an additional
30+ minutes because they were too hard.

My current approach will be to cook them for about an hour on their own
and add them to the other ingredients at that point. It's big pain in
the ass, but I can't predict what they'll do or when they'll do it.
Outside, of course, just making a large pot of white beans. I can see
how that would be a little more straight ahead.