Pressure Cooked Beans for Refried Beans - Pinto Beans
This is not a recipe but a process to learn your pressure cooker.
More discussion can be found here:
Every pressure cooker is different depending on size and construction. Size makes a difference because of the radiation surface plus the area above the water line. Construction makes a difference because of how much energy is stored in the metal of the pressure canner.
Another thing you need to ask yourself, are the beans new with more water content or old and dehydrated with less water content?
I like to use what I call a Quick Pressure Soak, not the boil and 1 hour soak or the soak for 24 hour of soaking beans. I can have beans done in an hour or less for the intended purpose. This is where you learn your bean or variety for the beans that you have on hand.
I am using a 10.5 quart All American pressure cooker for the following discussion. If using a smaller pressure cooker, your time will vary but this is the point of the discussion.
Also notice that I am using a natural release method of relieving pressure to zero PSI (pounds per square inch). The reason is that the bean will have a lot of store energy under the bean skin and with the sudden release of energy can rupture the bean skin.
Let us blow up some beans! This is cheap since it only requires ½ pound of bean and less than an hour of your time. This also good because you can judge the beans after Quick Pressure Soak, do I need more or less time in the following cycle? A minute or more can make a difference in the final product, keep notes! Most grains will need 1.5 or 3 times the water weight to rehydrate.
Pressure Cooked Beans for Refried Beans - Pinto Beans - Worksheet
Quick Soak
227 g (½ pound) Pinto Beans, dry 100%
Water 300%
Salt 1% figured from water content.
Notice a 3:1 ratio of water to beans at this point
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Weigh the dry beans
Rinse under fresh water to get the field dust off.
Add the above ingredients, beans, water and salt.
Place a dead weight pressure regulator on canner or adjust to 15 PSI of pressure release on the canner.
Process beans for 5 minutes @ 15 PSI and use a natural release of the the canner pressure (turn off the heat source and let the canner come to zero PSI. Pressure is measured starting at the time of pressure release from the pressure cooker.
Release the pressure from the canner, open the the lid. This step is important to learn your pressure cooker!
What is the firmness of the bean when placed into your mouth and chewed at this point?
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After the Quick Pressure Soak what is the bean weight? The bean would have taken on a lot of water at this point.
Add:
Bean weight 100%
Garlic Powder 0.5%
Onion Powder 0.5%
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Process Beans with Spice for 12 minutes @ 15 PSI
Allow natural release method.
Drain beans into a colander but save the bean liquor in a bowl.
What is the firmness of the bean at this point?
Does the bean need more/less time of cooking for your desired result. Soup beans would be firmer as an example.
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Bean weight at this point?
Bean weight 100%
Add lard or other fat at 20%
Add Salt at 1%
Add saved liquor back into beans.
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Mash beans for a Taco, spread on bread or just eating plain, good stuff.
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The process may seem long but think about the process flow.. You can add or delete spices, add more or less salt for the finished product. The process can go very quickly in your mind and there is no need of cooking beans for hours on end for a meal.