Delicious UK - (02)February 2020

OUR

WINNER:

QUICKHOT-

SOAK

1 2

TREND TO TRY:

ORANGE WINE

WHAT IS IT? A wine made

fromwhitegrapesinwhichthe

pressedgrapejuiceiskeptin

lengthycontactwiththeskins

duringandafterfermentation.

Theresultisa winewitha

deeporangecolour.Flavour-

wise,it tendstohaveless

aciditythanwhite,butwith

someofthetanninandbitter

edgeofa red.It hasbeen

madeformillennia– notablyin

Georgia– buthasrecentlyhad

a resurgenceelsewherein

Europe,particularlyamong

winemakerswhomakewines

usingminimalintervention.

DRINKITWITH...Charcuterie,

cheeseandroastmeat.Orange

wineisa goodmatchforfood

fromtheMiddleEast,Balkans

andCaucasus,aswellasspicy

Asiandishes.

...ANDINCOOKING?Useto

makea fantasticcoqauvinor

a fruitylambbraise.

WHERETOBUYITFromgood

onlinewinemerchantssuchas

LesCavesdePyrene(lescaves.

co.uk),andfromMarks&

SpencerandAsda.

METHOD2 QUICKHOT-SOAK

Putthebeansina pan,addcoldwater

tocover,bringtotheboilandboilfor

2 minutes.Removefromtheheat,

coverwiththelidandleavetosoakfor

anhour.Drain(discardthewater),

thenboilinfreshwateruntiltender.

VERDICTThismethodrequiresa

littlemoreeffortbutisa good

solutionwhenyou’reshortoftime.

It alsoresultsinbeansthatare

smootherintextureandcreamy,not

mealy.Someclaimthismethodmakes

thebeanslessgaseous,thoughwe’ll

leavethatuptoyoutofindout.

Weconductedourtestusingdried

cannellinibeans.Seeourcassoulet

recipe,madewithdriedbeans,onp100

THEFOODHACK

Watchhowtosliceandfananavocado

toservewithbruncheggdishesor

simplytojazzupyouravocadoontoast.→

Seethevideonowat deliciousmagazine.co.uk/skills

METHOD 1 OVERNIGHT SOAK
Put the beans in a bowl and cover
with cold water (about 500ml per
100g beans). Soak the beans for at
least 8 hours or overnight. Adding
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda to the
water shortens the cooking time a bit
and results in softer beans. Drain the
beans (discard the soaking water),
put them in a pan, then boil in fresh
water until tender. Larger/older
beans will take longer.
VERDICT This method is simple and
doesn’t take much effort, but the
beans are not cooked consistently,
with a marked contrast between the
firmness of the skins and the
softness of the middles.

Some say soaking dried beans before cooking is unnecessary but we think
the cooked texture is better as pre-soaking softens the skins and also speeds
up cooking. Please note: dried kidney beans (and cannellini and broad beans)
contain a toxin that needs to be neutralised by first boiling for 10 minutes, then
discarding the water before further cooking. We tried two soaking methods.

THE SIDE-BY-SIDE TEST

SHOULD YOU SOAK DRIED BEANS?

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MASTERCLASS: THE KNOWLEDGE