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The Miracle of the One-Hour Baked Bean.
Under pressure for a quicker bean.
Contrary to what you might think, I don’t really like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. My bread can take four hours from start to finish but my time with it is less than 15 minutes. My all-day ribs take, you know, all friggin’ day, but my effort is just a rub at the beginning, throw ‘em on the barbecue later then chow down. Basically my all day ribs have me working for about 20 minutes. I’m a huge believer in letting good tools, the stove and the oven do the real work for you.
One thing I really like to make is baked beans. I don’t make them too often though because they just take so long. Most recipes begin with a pre-soak, typically overnight but always at least eight hours. Then you cook the beans, typically for two hours, drain them then add flavours and bake for what seems like a couple of weeks. It’s a long freakin’ time and ties up pots, the stove and oven way too long.
Dried beans are tough little bastards so the only way to speed up this process is going to be by the introduction of pressure. I’ve been using a Lagostina pressure cooker for years and really love it. It’ll turn the toughest cut of beef into a rich, tender stew faster than you can order a pizza from the local pizza joint. So would that work for baked beans? I set the lofty goal of going from a bag of dried beans to a pot of delicious baked beans in one hour flat. And after a couple of failed attempts that involved scraping burnt beans off the bottom of the pot and another pot of bean soup, I finally nailed it down. A rich, saucy pot of tender beans just waiting to be served alongside some fresh bread, some eggs at breakfast or potatoes at supper. What used to take nearly a 24 hour period previously was now possible in the time it takes to watch back to back episodes of Seinfeld. And even George Costanza wouldn’t notice that the beans in this recipe are never actually baked.
Dust off that pressure cooker and give it a shot!
High pressure baked beans
1 cup dried white pea beans
8 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 strips bacon, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons dried mustard
2 cups water for finishing
salt and pepper to taste
Dump your beans into the pressure cooker and top with eight cups of water. Attach the lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and pressure cook for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large fry pan over medium heat for a few minutes and add the bacon pieces. Stir and fry until slightly crisped. Add the oil then the chopped onion. Cook gently for about 10 minutes, then add the ketchup, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, dried mustard and water. Season lightly with salt and pepper and bring the mixture to the boil. Once the beans have been pressure cooking for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and release the pressure valve. Remove the lid and drain off all but about 1/2 cup of water. Dump in the hot flavouring mixture, stir for a moment and put the lid back on, then place back on the heat. Initially increase the heat to high to bring it to a boil and get it up to pressure again. Once at pressure, reduce to medium and cook for 10 minutes, then reduce to medium low and cook another 10 minutes, then to low and cook for 10 minutes. Reducing the heat along the way will help prevent anything from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot while keeping the pressure up. Remove the lid and season to taste again with salt and pepper if needed. You are now a superhero like me.
The pressure cooker. A Lagostina model that dates back to around 1997. They made three sizes and this was the biggest one.
I typically use high heat until the pressure comes up (starts hissing) then I turn it down to 5 (on a scale of one to 10) and let it pressure cook as needed. I find at medium heat, there’s a nice even pressure and little risk of things burning on the bottom of the pan inside.
I also bought a Lagostina pressure cooker at a thrift store yesterday . . . Brand new in-the-box with manual and recipe book and everything. The manual is written in 6 languages. I came online looking for additional recipes. The manual does not provide default pressure information but I found a post by a user in France saying it was 9psi.
I am going to try your recipe! Tonight my son cooked white kidney beans in our old Presto p.c. while I fired up some chicken paprikash in my “new” delight- the perfect Lagostina that I’ve always wanted and just found at Goodwill (on half-price day, no less!)
However I wish I had the manual, because I don’t know what the default pressure is, and I’m not sure when (or if) I should be tipping the little hinged valve.
Drink the koolaid! I am your leader!
So what about the love of cooking, you ask? Cooking is like making love. It should be done in 3 minutes and followed by a huge meal.
Why are people so darned scared of pressure cookers anyway? And why are you so damned lazy! 20 minutes this, 15 minutes that. What about the love in cooking? That slow buildup to a monstrously climactic and satisfying meal. Next you’re going to be talking about slow cookers and tupperware parties. Sheesh!
OK. I’ll try the beans.