Stubborn Great Northern Beans

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Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby woodenvisions » Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:53 pm

Hello there everyone,

I was hoping that someone might have an idea why great northern beans are being stubborn when it comes to softening up ?
I did soak them in plain water overnight before smoking them on my Kamado at 225/235 degrees for 3.5 hrs using a recipe I found online .
The recipe calls for only 2 hrs and they weren't even close to softening up at that time.
After another 90 minutes, about half were soft and edible.
It was midnight and had to shut the smoker down, but put beans in fridge till tonight.
I decided to put them in the oven at 325 and its now 3 hrs and alot of them are still wayyyyy to firm.
Grrrrr, am I missing something? Lol

Any thoughts are Very much appreciated :chef:
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby ChileFarmer » Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:12 pm

I have never had any trouble cooking dry beans of any kind. But have never cooked dry beans in my smoker either. Don't have an answer. Be interesting what others have to say. CF :D
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby woodenvisions » Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:19 pm

ChileFarmer wrote:I have never had any trouble cooking dry beans of any kind. But have never cooked dry beans in my smoker either. Don't have an answer. Be interesting what others have to say. CF :D


Hi ChileFarmer,

Yeah, I'm at a loss because I followed the recipe 100%.
The only uncertainty is that when I soaked the beans overnight, I put them in the fridge...
Maybe the cold water was the culprit?

Here is the link below for the recipe, maybe one of the ingredients is causing this to happen as well, idk ?

http://blog.americanspice.com/index.php ... ked-beans/
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby woodenvisions » Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:47 pm

Ok, so it looks like 8 hrs is the magic number ?
They are actually really good and soft but not mushy !
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby Okie Sawbones » Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:27 pm

Time is your friend. So it heat. I cook my beans at 300 with no problems.
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby BluDawg » Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:39 pm

I use GNs in Boston Baked beans. I always use the quick soak method for all dry beans if I don't pressure cook 'em. Bring to a Boil boil for 10 min shut off the heat and put a lid on let 'em set for 1 hr. I cook baked beans at 350 for 8 hrs covered so your cook time seems right on to me. They could have been old beans they take forever to get tender also putting salt in the recipe at the beginning will make the tough as will boiling to cook them. Cook 'em slow add your salt at the end of the cook.

EDIT: I just read that recipe it says to boil & simmer the beans for 1 hr after soaking until tender I think you missed that part

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The next day drain the beans and place them in a large stockpot and add water to cover them by about 4 inches.  Let this come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer till the beans are tender (about an hour). Drain the beans and reserve about two cups of the simmering liquid
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby woodenvisions » Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:45 am

Okie Sawbones wrote:Time is your friend. So it heat. I cook my beans at 300 with no problems.

Hi Okie,
I'm gonna try these again but this time I'm gonna let the beans soak overnight at room temperature. I'm betting the cold water hindered the process because they seemed pretty firm, almost like a jelly bean when I took them out.

As far as time and heat, I will definitely bump it up to 300 and allow for more time. The recipe calling for two hrs of smoking or 1 hr in the oven does seem way off.

Thanks for your thoughts and help, I appreciate it greatly.
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Re: Stubborn Great Northern Beans

Postby woodenvisions » Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:57 am

BluDawg wrote:I use GNs in Boston Baked beans. I always use the quick soak method for all dry beans if I don't pressure cook 'em. Bring to a Boil boil for 10 min shut off the heat and put a lid on let 'em set for 1 hr. I cook baked beans at 350 for 8 hrs covered so your cook time seems right on to me. They could have been old beans they take forever to get tender also putting salt in the recipe at the beginning will make the tough as will boiling to cook them. Cook 'em slow add your salt at the end of the cook.

EDIT: I just read that recipe it says to boil & simmer the beans for 1 hr after soaking until tender I think you missed that part

Code: Select all

The next day drain the beans and place them in a large stockpot and add water to cover them by about 4 inches.  Let this come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer till the beans are tender (about an hour). Drain the beans and reserve about two cups of the simmering liquid


Hi BluDawg,

I've been wanting to get a pressure cooker for a while now, my Mother swears by hers and we all know Mother is always right lol.
As far as boiling and letting them simmer for an hour, I did follow that as well. That was the first indication things weren't going to plan because I noticed the beans weren't softening at all.
I was wondering about if I possibly grabbed some ( old ) beans, but also wonder if soaking them in cold water overnight in the fridge also tightened them up instead of soaking them at room temperature.

I'm gonna try these again, but look for the best dated beans, soak at room temp and be more patient this time and forget the whole 2 hr cook time and just cook till they are soft.

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions and thoughts.

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