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That's nuts.

3 (18.8%)

Who don't eat meat? It's chili, for Christ's sakes.

5 (31.3%)

I'm not like the others. I like the same things you do.

4 (25%)

Someone keeps talking about Cowboy Neal.

4 (25%)

Total Members Voted: 15

Voting closed: January 06, 2005, 07:55:38 pm

[wombat]

Cook your dried beans before you eat them, says the Internet.

Ugh, for dental reasons if no other.

I forgot to say that carlos's friends pig statues are GOOD.

[V-Adore]

Okay, I'll ask: how many people were eating dried beans without some sort of cooking occurring? Honestly?

[Nabubrush]

If anyone does try this, I'd appreciate further comments. Also. if you try it and it makes you think of things that I might like, let me know.

We'll be making this this weekend, and will post our thoughts.  I'll also post the recipe for the hell of good vegetarian chili my girlfriend made a few weeks ago when I get home.  (If I remember to.)

Paging Gimpson. Please go to the white courtesy phone.

[Ben-San]

Okay, I'll ask: how many people were eating dried beans without some sort of cooking occurring? Honestly?

Hikers, apparently, have occasionally soaked them to soften them up but eaten them without cooking.

[Nabubrush]

Hey Gimpson, are you listening?

[Gimpson]

Hey Gimpson, are you listening?

Indeed.  As fun as it would be to stretch this out over a couple more weeks, We did some grocery shopping over the weekend and Crazy Awesome Veggie Chili is on the menu for tonight.  I only wish I had ordered some of that Chili powder that Carlos recommended.

[AlohaDawg]

Okay, I'll ask: how many people were eating dried beans without some sort of cooking occurring? Honestly?

Hikers, apparently, have occasionally soaked them to soften them up but eaten them without cooking.

That's crazy. CRAZY!

[Mite]

Woohoo! A question about which I know something!

If you don't prepare beans properly, you can be in for some projectile-vomiting fun. Beans, unlike fruit (despite what the childhood rhyme implies), are not something the bean plant wants you to be eating. Fruit plants want you to go eating their tasty fruit, then pooing out their seeds in a mix of ready-made fertilizer. But legumes are storage devices for the plant, which is something they want to hang on to.

So, the plant throws all kinds of nasty enzymes in the beans, which will try to eat your stomach before your stomach eats them. So, ya gotta denature those enzymes (by cooking), or you'll be ailin'. And this is how cooking made man The King of All Beasts.

Or at least this is what my crazy old botany professor told me. YMMV.

/The more you know

[Gimpson]

I was wondering if we were going to get a definitive answer on the poison bean theory.  In addition to Mite's confirmation, I found this awesome page on cooking beans and peas.  It discusses the poison issue, plus all kinds of good stuff on how to get your beans tender, how to properly pre-soak them, and how to deal with what they euphemistically call "bean burps and other explosions."

[Skillator]

As part of broadcast school I interviewed a chili champion.
As a rule many contests will not accept an entry that includes beans, Rice, lentils, spinach etc. Of course none of you are planning to enter your chili into contests so fuck the rules.
I must admit that my immediate reaction to a a chili sans meat was an upturned nose and the words "what do you mean no meat?" but I'm quite certain it is most delicious. I intend to try it for myself rather soon.
But yes tradition is that you cook chili for up to eight hours using of course chili peppers. It is meant to be a delicious means for serving not particularly high grade meat. But if you do use good meat your chili can get that much better. Chili making can become quite an art if you're willing to dedicate yourself to it. The United Sates is an ideal country for the aspiring chili champ because there seem to be contests all over every one of your states. Canadian who don't wish to travel to the States are out of luck.

[Gimpson]

FOUR THUMBS UP!  (The S.O. liked it too.)

I honestly preferred your veggie chili to the one we made a while back, but for comparison purposes, I'll post our recipe here, from this book:

Chipotle-Kissed Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 Tbsp chili powder, or more to taste
1 1/2 lbs. Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 14.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15.5 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups water
Salt
1 Tbsp minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, or to taste

1.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium head.  Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic, cover, cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chili powder and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat with the spices.

2.  Transfer the mixture to a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker.  Add the tomatoes, beans, and water, season with salt, cover adn cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

3.  When ready to serve, stir the chipotles into the chili.  Taste to adjust the seasonings.

So it's very close to yours, minus some spices and veggies that I think really improved yours, and with sweet potatoes instead of non-sweet potatoes. I did like the adobo chilis in this, and next time I make yours will probably chuck in some of those too.  Also, the longer cooking time made the chunks of potatoes in this recipe just completely fall apart, and the chili ended up with more of a thick chili consistency than yours did.  Still, I'd have to say I preferred yours.

[Nabubrush]

Rock! I will inquire about including them there Adobo chilies in the next batch. I'm glad you and yours enjoyed it, Gimpson.

I should have pointed out that my wife's recipe came from here.

[St_Zartan]

It takes forever to get anything done at my place. My girlfriend and I finally made this last night (after a prep time of approximately forfuck*ngever; her Ultimate Chopper blade broke like months ago and those charlatans are still incubating their thumbs on getting us a replacement), and it was a big hit. I was surprised by how fuck*ng hearty it was; I'm used to - in chili, anyway - seeing the vegetables as supporting players for meat, the real belly-filler, but a big bowl of this really satisfied. Happily anticipating leftovers.

We made it more firey than the recipe called for (a little extra chili powder, Ro-Tel's "extra hot" variety of its fine product) and she actually thought that it needed quite a bit of salt. Go figure. Also, there's been talk in this thread of omitting various ingredients due to personal taste - I'd only really recommend that with the beans, as everything else really ends up in a mash from which no particular offense can be drawn. However, I cannot imagine eating this without the beans, as they added a lot of (for me) authentic texture and flavor.

[side_show]

Unless you are one who could die from a gas attack.

This is hilarious.   Thank you for being concerned that I may have this problem.

My cookbook warns that "many beans contain toxins, and must be prepaired with care..."  I think perhaps I saw the word "toxins" and thought of death...

[Nabubrush]

They enjoyed it!

I'm glad those that made this liked it, and I'm glad I shared the recipe. We made lentil soup last night and it was good, too.