I never realized!

Turns out there's one man who had a bean to pick with me. Not hours after that recipe went up, I received an email from Russ Parsons of the L.A. Times.

Here's what he had to say:

Black beans cook so quickly soaking only saves 30 minutes or so. It also marginally helps keep them whole, but you're going to be pureeing some anyway. and the flavor is so much better. Just sayin

When Russ writes, I listen. After all, his fantastic book How to Read a French Fry was one of the reasons I got into food science and writing to begin with.

He even wrote an article about it way back in 1994. Could it be true? Have I really been soaking black beans in vain all these years? Armed with Max's Lazy Cook's Black Beans recipe and a few pounds of dried beans, I hit the kitchen to find out.

Yet another thing I was doing wrong. 

http://pandawhale.com/post/50629/youre-doing-it-wrong-the-complete-list