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When cooking beans, and they are not needed for an hour or so after they are done, is it better to leave them in their cooking liquid while waiting, or to drain them, and let them wait absent the cooking liquid?

Open Office Hours

Barton Seaver - Open Office Hours

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This event was on October 11, 2022

Join Chef Barton Seaver in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Barton is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Mitch Miglis

When cooking beans, and they are not needed for an hour or so after they are done, is it better to leave them in their cooking liquid while waiting, or to drain them, and let them wait absent the cooking liquid?

Answer

Interesting question Mitch, I would say it's always always better to leave them in a cooking liquid. That way not only do the beans stay moist. They continue to react to the cooking liquid and the cooking liquid itself takes on a lot more of their flavor. I think just the whole dish comes more into focus and all those flavors get married together, especially if you've been simmering your beans with carrot celery and onion or piece of kelp in there. Yes dried seaweed some bay leaves Etc that flavor transference process is going to continue to happen. And if the dish that you're called that you're the beans are called for in requires them to be very dry. Says if you're roasting them trying to crisp them Etc then yes, I would say drain them off. But if this is just you know, you're making a hummus or something or adding them to a stew or otherwise mixing them in where a little bit of moisture is fine. Even desirable absolutely leaves them in the liquid throughout their storage process for the best quality results.

Barton Seaver

Chef, Educator, Author

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Barton Seaver is one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. He traded his illustrious career as an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants, DC, for traveling the world as an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. Barton translated his experiences into leadership in sustainable seafood innovations, garnering him positions with the United States Culinary Ambassador Corp, the University of New England, the New England Aquarium, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Barton works on initiatives to inform consumers and institutions about how our choices for diet and menus can promote healthier people, resillient ecosystems, more secure food supplies, and thriving communities. An internationally recognized speaker, Barton has delivered lectures, seminars, and demos to a multitude of audiences. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country and American Seafood and has contributed to dozens of publications, including Cooking Light, The New York Times, and Saveur, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED Talk stage. He is the founder of Coastal Culinary Academy, a multi-platform initiative that seeks to increase seafood consumption through seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks.