taking at best several hours, and at worst, a full day of soaking, followed by simmering So I did what any sensible, sober man would do: I bought them canned There are a couple of distinct advantages that canned beans have over dried For one, their texture is pretty much always spot on Bean canners have got the process down to an art, and you’d now be hard-pressed to open a can and find beans that were broken, chalky, hard, or anything short of perfectly creamy and intact—not always an easy thing to accomplish at home For another thing, canned beans come with some nice, full-bodied liquid Many recipes tell you to rinse the stuff off That makes sense if you’re making, say, a bean salad, but the liquid is awesome in soups, adding flavor and body to an otherwise thin broth There’s only one real problem with canned beans: flavor With dried beans, you have the option of cooking your beans in any number of media—water, chicken stock, pork broth, dashi, a sweet molassesy tomato sauce—and adding whatever aromatics you like— onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, thyme, pork fat —in order to get flavor built right into them Canned beans, on the other hand, are designed to have a neutral flavor that will work moderately well in any dish but shine in none Luckily for us, there are means to getting a bit of flavor back into those guys Most simple canned bean soup recipes call for mixing the ingredients together, bringing the soup to a boil, and serving it immediately There’s no fault in doing that—canned beans, after all, are a convenience food But what if I told you that by adding a ton of flavorful aromatic ingredients and a quick (15-minute) simmer, you could amplify the quality of your soup by an order of magnitude?* OK, no dramatic drumroll there, I guess Let’s be honest: these are 30-minute bean soups They aren’t going to change your life the way, say, buying your best friend a lottery ticket that happens to be worth millions of dollars would, but they may well change your weeknight cooking routine ...mixing the ingredients together, bringing the soup to a boil, and serving it immediately There’s no fault in doing that—canned beans, after all, are a convenience food But what if I... quick (1 5-minute) simmer, you could amplify the quality of your soup by an order of magnitude?* OK, no dramatic drumroll there, I guess Let’s be honest: these are 30-minute bean soups They aren’t... going to change your life the way, say, buying your best friend a lottery ticket that happens to be worth millions of dollars would, but they may well change your weeknight cooking routine