Drain The Beans Or Not? Ding Dong Wants To Know Where You Stand
There’s no shortage of entertainment and debate in these COVID-19 lockdown times and one of the fiercest ongoing debates right now is how do you properly prepare butter beans to go along with a Caribbean staple, curry chicken.
A few weeks ago, popular Dancehall artiste Ding Dong Ravers sparked both serious and silly debate when he posted a video to his Instagram, showing how he prepares his curry chicken with butter beans. The clip was a prelude to the viral music video for Inside, released four days ago, which showed him preparing the same dish as he encourages others to do the same and stay inside during the ongoing pandemic.
Debate among fans raged over the big question: Do you drain the tin of beans or not? Ding Dong doesn’t as he showed in the video.
Today, in another Instagram post he reignited the contentious topic by posting: “Mi never know 1 tin a @gracefoods butter beans coulda cause such a scene #TEAMDRAINTHEWATER OR #TEAMUSETHEWATER?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-xec0PpBPn/
Of course, fans who commented were very divided in their approach. The comment drew out Jamaicans from all walks of life, who liked and commented, including six-hitting machine Andre Russell.
One #teamusethewater fan said: “Use the water that make the gravy nice lol,” while a #teamdrainthewater fan said: “Dwl… drain the water ding… lil.”
The question is what do the professional chefs say about the best way to prepare beans?
According to popular recipe site Better Homes and Gardens, beans should always be drained. The site says: “The cloudy liquid you find in canned beans is mostly starch and salt that may change the texture or taste of a dish. Most of our recipes call for draining and rinsing the beans to remove the excess salt and starch and improve flavor. Draining and rinsing also removes the metallic flavor sometimes found in canned beans.”
Another popular blog bonappetit.com says it’s all about what dish you’re making. For some meals, that require a lot of liquid, it’s ok to use but they warn it’s all about taste.
“Before you go throwing canned bean liquid into every dish that can theoretically handle it, you have to actually taste what’s going on in there. That is to say, not all canned bean liquid is created equal. It varies from bean to bean and brand to brand. Is it on the thinner side, or more like the aforementioned goop? Is it smooth, or is it gritty? Does it taste like actual beans, or does it leave an unappealing tinny flavor in your mouth? You won’t know until you try,” the site states.
Grace, which is the brand of butter beans that Ding Dong uses in the videos, doesn’t clear up the matter either as according to their site, even though this recipe is for Curry Tripe and Butter beans, when you’ve finished following all the steps you simply have to: “Return to flame, add Grace Coconut Milk, tomatoes, green sweet pepper and the Grace Butter Beans, stir and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.” There’s no mention of draining.
Based on what the experts say, it would seem it’s totally up to you, the chef, whether you drain your beans or not. It all depends on what taste you’re going for and Ding Dong likes his butter beans undrained.
As one expert fan commented on his first post in March: “I am a chef dont of to strain off no water ,every one cook different nth wrong with using the water it help give flavour its like a sauce.and the bean already precook .”
Watch Ding Dong’s video for Inside below.