Cooking with beans can be tasty and rewarding — that is, if they’re cooked evenly. Key to the perfect roasted artichoke and white bean salad are legumes with an al dente yet fully-cooked bite, which, according to Michelin-starred chef Cesare Casella, means cooking them in ample water. In a Martha Stewart’s Cooking School episode from 2013, host Martha Stewart asks the renowned Italian chef and educator if covering beans in water is sufficient to cook them. Though recipes might vaguely state “submerge beans in water and simmer,” Casella tells Stewart, along with the show’s viewers, it’s better to add more water. And the reasoning for his chef-approved tip is that “you want the beans dancing.”
What, exactly, does dancing have to do with cooking beans thoroughly? The chef explains that since the temperature of the beans in the pot varies from top to bottom, adding enough water allows the beans to move around (to dance, if you will) so that heat can be evenly distributed during cooking. Starting off with lots of water in the pot — probably more than you think you need — ensures that all the beans cook at the same rate. So, if your recipe says to cover dried beans in 2 inches of water, it’s actually best to go by a 3:1 ratio of water to beans, so the beans can breathe and cook evenly. When in doubt, add more water. It may sound like a simple cooking shift, but using enough water makes all the difference.
In the cooking school video, Casella says that he likes to cook beans in plenty of water in a pot — just as he does with Stewart — or in the oven at his restaurants. While cooking beans on the stovetop seems simple enough, many people have opinions about the right way to do it. For instance, some home cooks call the trick of soaking beans overnight before cooking them unnecessary, since, contrary to popular belief, it actually doesn’t save that much cooking time. Instead, you can pre-soak your beans right before cooking to give them a small head start with cooking and help bring out their flavor.
Then, as Chef Casella says, cook them in plenty of water. If, after your best efforts to cook garbanzo beans in lots of water, you notice that the beans have reabsorbed much of the water, but still aren’t cooked through, simply add more water to the pot — enough to both cover the beans and distribute heat. Remember that cook time can vary among the most popular types of beans, depending on factors including size and texture. But it could take an hour or more to cook beans thoroughly, so it’s a good exercise in patience. And if you don’t have much time, you can always prepare a host of bean recipes in the pressure cooker, which Casella recommends for home cooks since it’s “fast and easy.”