I’ve tried googling and came up with two options - one is soaking the beans in water over night, the other is to pre-cook them, very slowly, for 8-10 hrs.
I’m going to make chili, and bought the dried beans instead of the canned stuff, to save money.
I figure on cooking the chili for 4-6 hours in itself. So what should I do to the beans beforehand?
Pop those suckers in the pressure cooker and they will be ready in no time at all. You want the beans to be thoroughly cooked before you add any tomato sauce, otherwise, they will harden (or so I am told).
Soaking gives the better flavour and texture.
There’s a “quick cook” method you can use. Cover the beans with water, bring to a boil, let them boil vigorously for a minute or two, then remove them from the heat and let them stand for an hour, soaking up the hot water. This will result in more split beans than you would get from soaking them overnight, but you’re going to be using them in chili! Who cares?
Count me in with the soaking crowd. Cover them with water and let them sit there. If the water level drops below the beans, due to absorption, just cover them again. Partially cook them, before adding about two thirds of the way through the time used to cook the meat, spices, and so on. Reserve some of the soaking liquid to add if the mixture gets too thick.
Can I come to your house for dinner?
I’ve never had much success with the “quick-cook” method. Soak them, then add towards the end of the chili recipe.
Soak the beans overnight in water with about a tablespoon of baking soda in it.
Drain and rinse the beans the next morning.
Run the beans through your garbage disposal (sorry, but kidney beans are my third least favorite bean behind lima beans and garbanzo beans.) 
–SSgtBaloo
Well, I prefer pintos in my chili over kidneys, but I expect that the cooking methods would be the same. Cook the beans and season them first. Otherwise you have beans that taste like the pot you soaked them in.
Cook the beans with a hambone or ham hocks, like you were gonna serve them like plain ol’ beans. In the chili pot, sautee some minced onion and garlic in the bottom. Then add some water, and throw in your washed, sorted beans. Add your hambone/hamhock, and make sure there is enough water to just cover everything. Throw in some salt, about a teaspoon per 8oz of beans, and any dry seasonings you want for the beans. I recommend a couple pinches of ground cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the beans are tender. Add water only when it doesn’t cover the beans anymore. Simmer slow and stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the pot and burn.
Then add yer chili fixin’s – crushed roma tomatoes, tomato paste, chili powder and… the real chili secret: a mixture of half ground chuck and half loose ground spicy italian sausage, browned well in a skillet. Go ahead, throw the grease an’ everything in the chili pot, too, unless you’re averse to real meat flavor. Let that simmer some more and then taste… adjust your seasonings, and simmer a bit longer.
Don’t add any sugar or cheese, or anything that contains those items… or else you’ll have a horrid sticky burned mess on the bottom of the pot.
I am going to second the pressure cooker.
My friend was going to get rid of hers, so she gave it to me as I have always wanted one.
It cooked dried beans in 10 minutes. :eek:
…and they were fabulous.
10 minutes!
I know they can be pricey, but if you cook beans a lot, you should get one.
It can not be emphasized enough:
Do not cook the beans in the same water you soaked them in.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I’m gonna make a lot of chili, about 3 gallons, for a party on saturday. I actually have half pinto, half kidney.
My own recipe: Heat olive oil, throw in cummin ( I knew that bughunter :D), crushed rep peppers (pizza peppers), onion, garlic, black pepper, salt, chili powder. Add diced, real Spanish, chorizo. Add diced beef (pot roast) and some beef stock. Bring to boil. Add tomato, simmer for about four hours, for the beef to get tender and the red tint of the tomato to get brownish. Add beans and boil, add chopped green peppers.
I use about 2 tbl spoons of black pepper and 4 tbl spoons of hot chili powder for each pound of meat.
I normally cheat and get the canned beans, but when making this much, I decided to try out the dried stuff. It’s soaking in a brand new plastic bucket now. I don’t have a preassure cocker, but it’s on my list. I’ll give a hint to my mum.
Nahhhhh…cook 'em in the same stuff. If you throw away the soaking water, you lose a lot of good bean flavor. I learned that from John Thorne, of Outlaw Cook fame.
If you’re worried about the fart factor, the only way to combat that is to eat beans more often. Let your digestive system get used to those lil morsels of goodness.
Slight hijack: I’m not sure where the idea of kidney beans for chili came from. I find them to be very unpleasant. Pinto or black beans is the way to go, but that’s just MO.
Man, chili is the only thing kidney beans are good for! I use a mix myself…kidney, pinto, red, black, navy…just about any proportion will do.
Chorizo in chili…yum. 