Cooking beans @ 10k feet

sageadvice · Mar 13, 2008

Here's a question for you that are used to cooking in camp. On a Wy. trip that my pard and i got packed into, i included a bag of pinto's and a canned ham figuring once we wittled the ham down some, i'd cook up a big batch of beans with the rest of it. Well, i cooked on those beans off and on for three days. Bring em up to a boil and let them simmer for hours, repete, and they never did get soft. We camped at 10 thousand feet, maybe a tad above. Was it the beans, was it my cooking, or was it the altitude. Never had near that trouble at home.

Coulda killed grouse with them beans if i'da had a slingshot.

1911 · Mar 13, 2008

I'd suspect it was the altitude. At 10k feet, water will boil at a much lower tempurature because of a lower atmospheric pressure meaning your boiling pot of water might be much cooler than the same boiling pot of water at sea level. That being said as long as they cooked and simmered I'm suprised that would not have done the job. I would think 3 days in room temp water would have made them soft so I'm baffled. Send it to Mythbusters and let them figure it out

All the same you were probably lucky they did not get cooked and subsequently eaten if you were sharing a tent.

BeanMan · Mar 14, 2008

Sage,

It was probably a combination of factors. Altitude and the age of the beans. By the time you buy pinto's off of the shelf they are likely to be at least two years old and maybe older. As beans age complex sugars turn to starches and the result is the are harder to cook and taste different. Fresh pintos should have a bright white background and a bright yellow hylem (belly button). If they are brown and the hylem is a dull orange they are old. You could try a couple of things. Buy fresh beans from a grower, bring a pressure cooker to defeat alitude (probably too much to pack in) or just buy canned beans.

BeanMan

Bambistew · Mar 14, 2008

The trick is a pressure cooker, its the only way you'll get them to cook all the way through.

BeanMan · Mar 14, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Mar-14-08 AT 08:36AM (MST)[p]Here are a couple of pictures.
2007 vintage notice the white color and colorful hylem

2005 vintage same variety (one of mine)

The newly harvest beans will cook completely in a crockpot in about 5 hours.

BeanMan

FamilyMan · Mar 14, 2008

Should have known "Beanman" would have the answer. It is awesome the breadth (if not depth) of knowledge here on MM.

Mark

NVBighorn · Mar 14, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Mar-14-08 AT 09:21AM (MST)[p]Interesting question. I remember once as a small kid riding in the car with my great uncle who had a lot of experience cowboying and herding sheep. He pointed at a mountain in central Nevada that's a bit over 11,000 feet high. He said "You could boil a pot of beans all day on that mountain and they still wouldn't be cooked." I always wondered about that statement. I guess it was true.

sageadvice · Mar 14, 2008

Well, a guy couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of answers. I do appreciate yer not picking too much fun at my cooking. i take pride in always being able to rustle up something pretty tasty and not take long at getting it done.

That batch of beans was a wonderment. i finally was able to masticate down a small meal of them, from shear oneryness, without knocking out any fillings. The remaining ham had long since been picked out and had not gone to waste. My pard steered clear of them alltogether.

Special notice goes out to Beanman for the fine picture and description of what to look for in your better bean. Even though my recipie, a small support group, and yours truly have won much hardware and renound at local chilie cook-offs, that particular knowledge of the bean, i never knew or suspected.

eelgrass · Mar 14, 2008

That's interesting Beanman! I sure didn't know beans had hymans! I'll be darned!

Eel

BeanMan · Mar 14, 2008

Eel,

Every one of them is a virgin too, at least in the first picture.

BM

kilowatt · Mar 14, 2008

Why would you want to eat beans at 10,000 feet or even higher? Man, the gas you will have. Better have a large supply of TP up there. LOL
The damn gas will chase the game away too. LOL

Brian

sageadvice · Mar 14, 2008

Brian/kilo said
"Why would you want to eat
beans at 10,000 feet or
even higher?"

I got a bit carried away with the luxury in hiring that pack string. My pard has been known to get by on little, next to nothing, but i like a comfy camp with plenty. You do however make valid points.

Brian, i know little of puter lingo or it's workings. i could e-mail you pictures of this semi DIY Wy hunt. i killed a decent buck, some may care to see.

kilowatt · Mar 14, 2008

Joey,
Send them to me and I will post the pictures for you and then you can write about the hunt and give us details if you like. Just making a joke of the 10k eating, don't take it serious. I eat beans but I better have a room close by or a good log to sit on. LOL
Click on the single envelope right next to my name above and send the pic/pics to me and I will get them up tomorrow morning.

Brian

sageadvice · Mar 14, 2008

Brian, Thanks! I saw the humor in your posts straight out. I also think that that's the reason my pard chose to steer clear of them beans even before we figured we was gonna run outa firewood before we got them cooked. lol

Joey

264winmag · Mar 15, 2008

Beanman,
you in Colorado?
would like to get some fresh beans

Take a kid hunting. You will enjoy it more than they do!

BeanMan · Mar 15, 2008

264,

I live in Palisade, CO (Grand Junction area) Send me a PM with your address and I'll mail you some. Same goes for anyone who wants some.

Beanman