Dried Beans

Because dried beans usually take almost 2 hours to cook, cook them separately before adding them to the soup so the other ingredients don’t end up overcooked.

Although most recipes recommend soaking dried beans overnight in cold water, I find that 2 or 3 hours will usually do—with the exception of chick-peas, which need overnight soaking. To tell if they’ve soaked long enough, look at their skins—the outer skin on all the beans should be shriveled. Recipes also often recommend throwing out the soaking water, but I find the beans have a better flavor if cooked in the soaking water.