I finally figured out why my beans kept tasting bland

I was just boiling them plain for years, but a friend from Tucson told me to always cook them in the water I soaked them in. That starchy water has so much flavor, and now my pintos taste like they came from a restaurant. Anyone else have a simple trick that totally changed a basic ingredient?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_owens20d ago

My grandma from New Mexico taught me to add a dried chile pepper to the pot while they simmer. It doesn't make them spicy, just gives this deep, smoky flavor that's amazing.

holly_green8220d ago

That thing about the starchy water is so true. It's like we're trained to throw away the best part. I see this everywhere now, like rinsing pasta after cooking it and washing off all the sauce-grabbing starch. We follow these basic rules without asking why, and it strips all the character out of simple food.