Hi, thanks for posting these clips. I dig historical re-enactment, and used to dabble in that sort of thing a bit, myself. It was a step in my journey which has brought me to permaculture (whither next?). I watched some of Jas. Townsend's other videos, too. They really remind me that some of the best dishes I make are when "there's nothing to eat in the house". I'm emboldened to try dealing with beans...again. Bought big sacks of organic dry beans for a great price, but danged if I can ever get those kidney beans to soften, no matter how many days they soak, nor how many hours they bubble away on the back of the stove. Better luck this time!
I suspect everything you need to know to get your kidney beans soft is in this thread https://permies.com/t/53160/kitchen/Cooking-Dry-Beans-Peas Personally, I found the suggestion of adding baking soda to the cooking water was a game changer for older beans.