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To Cook Dried Peas and Beans

This recipe describes how to soak and cook dried peas or beans until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Cook Dried Peas and Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Soak

  1. Soak the dried peas or beans in twice as much water for 4 hours or overnight.

Cook

  1. Cook them in the soaking water unless it tastes unpleasant.

  2. Add more water as it boils away.

  3. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the age and variety.

  4. If serving as a vegetable, do not let them get too soft.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Dried peas or beans
Provide the main body and starchy texture of the finished dish.
Water
Hydrates the dried legumes so they soften and cook through evenly.

The step that matters

Keep the peas or beans covered with water while cooking. Dried legumes absorb water as they cook, and if the liquid boils away they can scorch or cook unevenly. Adding more water as it evaporates keeps them submerged so the skins stay intact and the centres soften evenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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