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To Boil Haricot Beans

This is a method for boiling dried white haricot beans until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Boil Haricot Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the haricot beans in cold water overnight.

  2. Discard any beans that float.

Cook

  1. Place the beans in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water and a little salt.

  2. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer.

  3. Cook the beans for about 3 hours, until tender.

  4. If using hard water, add a tiny piece of baking soda.

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

Haricot beans
Starches gelatinise and proteins set slowly during long simmering, turning firm dried beans creamy and tender.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Vigorous boiling can break the skins and churn the beans apart. A gentle simmer lets the starches soften gradually, so the beans cook through while staying whole.

“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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