Made a version of marinated white beans with my New Year’s leftovers.
Adding herbs when serving since the beans seem to stay good/presentable longer. This version includes Castelvetrano olives, which I love!
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I have a collection of ‘dried beans’ types -
and I’ve made buckets of recipes for 'beans and . . . ’
it can take ‘overnight’ to soak dried beans for a recipe.
but dried beans make mega-mucho better results than anything ‘canned’
prepping/soaking dry beans does not bring sugar/salt/(OMG! What else?) with it.
probably(?) a more better potential ‘pure’ bean taste contribution than a ‘canned’ bit of beans can make.
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I prefer canned for marinated beans. They are firmer.
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A Berkeley bean influencer!
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Were your blackeyed peas dried or fresh/frozen? I search every summer in vain for fresh ones.
Where I shop they are easiest to find “fresh” (not fresh picked, but not dry) around NYE. This year I tried freezing those. Not sure how that will go but I got excited and bought too many. I also grew some last year, and plan to try that again.
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I long for fresh-picked, that I can hull myself, preferably sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch (I have neither!). Just memories, including the taste.
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I don’t really have those memories, but I’m trying to make some! I buy the ones for shucking when I see them, and tried growing some last year.
Have you tried frozen? Any thoughts about those?
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I am with you on the fresh-picked memory aspect. I remember the taste of freshly shucked garden peas quite clearly.
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No, i haven’t seen frozen recently. The one time i found “fresh” shelled ones, they were as hard as rocks and impervious to cooking. Maybe frozen would be better!
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I’m finally getting around to a few lentil recipes ( [Lentil salad with olives mint and feta](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/6687-lentil-salad-with-olives-mint-and-feta and big batch marinated , and I noticed the ATK recipe says “1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed”.
I can’t imagine picking over these lentils!
Does anyone here do that? What are you looking for?
ETA " To pick over lentils, spread a small handful of dry lentils onto a light-colored surface, such as a white plate or baking sheet, to easily spot and remove small stones, twigs, dirt, or discolored, misshapen lentils. Once inspected, rinse the lentils thoroughly in a fine-mesh sieve until the water runs clear"
Uggg. They’re so tiny!
Also resurecting this one for Guanciale Chickpea Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing, which I’m sure someone here on HO shared.
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I rinse and pick through my lentils in a strainer (under running water). I think the theory is that small stones that look similar to lentils get past the sorting process and may end up in with the lentils.
Personally, I’ve never found a stone or other foreign matter in my lentils, but rinsing them thoroughly and just looking for stones makes me feel better about serving them to others.
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In my 50+ years of cooking lentils, I think I’ve found only one stone–the hard way, biting down on it. No damage.
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Yes, I understand it is quite rare to find a stone.
I think I started really checking my lentils for stones after watching Alton Brown, when he did a specific “Good Eats” episode on Lentils.
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As @Desert-Dan said, sorting through lentils is to find any stray pebbles that may have gotten mixed in with them. I have never done this and have never knowingly consumed them
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Thanks all; I took a look see; I think I was starting to see things!
Also watching the Good Eats episode!
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15 to 20 or so years ago, I would sort them, and find the occasional stone. These days, not so much. I quit sorting.
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Dried. They are delicious but not remotely like fresh. Sigh.
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Double sigh.
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