“Power Soak” Your Beans Before Cooking by Giving them a Two Minute Boiling Water Bath [Cooking]

 We've discussed the old soak beans for 24-hours trick to...alleviate excess gas, but if you don't have a whole day to wait before you start cooking your bean dish, this method from the folks at Bon Appetit magazine can save you a ton of time and waiting. Just put your beans in a pot, cover with water, bring them to a boil and keep them there for two minutes, and set aside.

This "power soak" method, as they call it, is essentially just pre-boiling, and once you've finished the two-minute boil, you let the beans stand for about one hour. In that time, some of the more complex sugars that may...contribute to gastrointestinal distress after eating, dissolve in the water, which is then discarded prior to cooking the beans. After the hour's rest, your beans will be ready to use in any recipe, as though it had been soaking for hours.

Have you tried this "power soak" pre-boiling method before, or do you have a different preferred method? Share your tips in the comments below.

The Faster Way to Soak Beans for Cooking | Bon Appetit

Make Better Hard-Boiled Eggs By Baking Them in The Oven, Not Boiling Them [Food Hacks]

Naturally most of us think hard-boiled eggs should be boiled, but a better way to get that perfect hard-"boiled" egg may be to actually bake it, according to Alton Brown. You can bake dozens of creamier eggs at once.

Tanya at the Greetings from the Asylum blog says that the baked eggs are also less sulfurous or smelly, and reproduces Alton Brown's recipe posted on Food.com.

Essentially, you're baking the eggs at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, with the eggs placed parallel to the bars on the racks as shown above.

This would be great to do for a large party or just if you love eating a lot of eggs.

Got Eggs? | Greetings from the Asylum