They take FOREVER if I don't soak them overnight! Even the " quick soak"
has not been very successful!

LOVE lamb shanks!!

Nancy

Thanks Nancy. I thought it was strange this step was left out. Im going to try soaking them first.

I do the quick soak and have never had a problem. It is really dependent on having very fresh dry beans...if that makes sense. The older they are the more likely that no amount of soaking will improve them. I love lamb shanks too! please post a KAW pic of the dish :) c

Mark Bittman of the NY Times, in "How to Cook Everything" says bring them to a boil, then leave them for two hours, and then proceed with your recipe. He claims the two hours soak after boiling as just as good as overnight soaking - and I've had great success with the method.

It's entirely possible as trailrunner says, that the beans are too old. Sometimes no amount of cooking with get them to soften up.

The beans might have been too old. I think they were there before we moved out during construction. I'm going to try new beans and a quick soak.

This recipe takes time, but a lot of it is hands-off, making it the perfect dinner for our "East Coast New Years" Party. By "East Coast" I mean "you're free to leave before midnight". ;p

I'm going to work it up tomorrow since the Mr isn't home for dinner tonight.

Just catching up, but I have a suggestion. I also use the quick soak, but there is another potential issue: the hardness of your water. Way back when, I used faucet water to cook beans and they were crunchy to the end. Somewhere I ran across the hard water question, which was a possibility as our tap water is quite hard. Now I use bottled water to cook beans (another reason I don't soak overnight and drain). It doesn't have to be distilled water, just regular bottled water for drinking. Worth a try.

Salt in the water can keep beans from softening, too. We had a water softener where we used to live, and if I'm remembering right, beans were a lot trickier to cook there than they are here. If the recipe calls for salt, wait until the beans are soft before putting it in.

Hope the next time will go better for you. We'll be butchering our lambs soon, and then I'm going to need recipes for how to cook them, since I've never cooked lamb.

Wow these are all good ideas. Unfortunately I'm on a business trip right now and the aforementioned lamb shanks landed in the freezer for another day. We have soft water, but I use filtered for cooking.

I get home Friday and host a dinner party on Saturday, but I'm not going to try this again. First time I tried this one was for my mom and it sucked!

Thanks for asking and I promise to check back in.

God, I hate beans.
Just in case you wondered.

@CF. I used to as well. Now I cook with them often, but I cheat and used canned. I currently hate dry beans.

I can eat them if you mush them into hummus. Mushrooms, too. But the texture is abhorrent to me.

You are a brave soul to keep trying.
Good luck with this interesting dish.

I think it might help to specify what was exactly wrong the first time. And the second time, what was wrong with the beans? Texture? Flavor?

I once cooked old beans for 4 days in a crock pot. No luck. Old beans are good for compost.

I can eat them if you mush them into hummus. Mushrooms, too. But the texture is abhorrent to me.

You are a brave soul to keep trying.
Good luck with this interesting dish.

I never soak my beans anymore because I buy them bulk from a really popular market and they are really fresh.

After years of cooking beans I have finally accepted that they have a better texture if cooked in the crock pot. I desperately want them to be better in Le Creuset, but they're not. I can cook them all day in the crock pot and they are creamy and beautiful, never overcooked.

I second what laughable said about salt. Don't add it until the end. This is particularly true with older beans.

Unlike CEFreeman, I adore beans.

I like Reese's Peanut Butter cups too...