Kitchen Notes: Black Bean Preparation

I tried making black bean brownies again. This time from scratch. And golly, compared to precooked canned beans, preparing black beans was time consuming. Like zucchini and most summer squash, I really don't like the taste of beans (or zucchini) by themselves unless it is an ingredient of something else.

The prep cycle seemed longer than it should and went like this:

• Wash/rinse 2/3 c. dry black beans
• Soak beans in enough water to cover them by an inch of water for 4 hours
• Drain beans (discard soaking liquid)
• Refill pot of beans with at least three cups of fresh water
• Boil for 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Let sit for 1 hour.

You're probably thinking, what the hay, beans take a lot longer than that to cook. I was thinking (at the time) that they'd cook for an additional 30 minutes in the brownie recipe. Anyhow. For the next attempt at these brownies, I would need to probably follow Whole Foods' guide on bean preparation which is:

Soak beans for 8 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator. Discard bean liquid. Cook using 1 cup dry beans per 3 cups of water or broth. Bring to a boil then simmer until tender. (so what's that? maybe 2 hours cook time?? Their site does not elaborate on the specifics.) A pressure cooker can shorten cook time to 1.5 hours.

What I have discovered using my method of cooking these beans for the flourless brownie recipe is that while the consistency is significantly more dry than using canned beans and you can almost taste the "bean" taste in the brownies, it is the perfect consistency for a steamed bun filling... such red bean buns. These could be black bean buns, which you really don't see at Asian bakeries. The mixture could use a touch more melted butter for a more moist texture.