My Venezuelan mother-in-law taught me how to make black beans. The thing is, she doesn’t follow a recipe. It is intuition and based on what you have on hand. So it took a little practice to get it right. One day, years ago, I started making the black beans in the morning, after soaking them overnight. I kept having to turn the stove off to take the kids to preschool, pick them up, do errands, etc. So I would cook for an hour, turn off the stove and let the pot sit, come back, turn on the stove, let the beans simmer for awhile, then turn it off to go do something else, and so on. The beans turned out better than ever. Something about letting things sit to allow the flavors to meld together . . . My father-in-law says that my black beans are the best he has ever had, better than those made by real Venezuelans! Maybe he is just being nice, I don’t know, but you might want to try these, anyway! Usually I cook the beans with a smoked ham hock, but this time I used bacon because I came across Applewood smoked bacon bits and pieces, a very economical package, at Trader Joe’s. I happened to have this in my refrigerator today, and I did not have a smoked ham hock. The flavor was fine using bacon, so I would say you could go either way. The cooking times I list are approximate. I started these this morning and didn’t finish them until dinner time, as I kept turning the stove off when I left the house. This is definitely a dish to make when you are either at home during the day or in-and-out. I think it would be difficult to do if you have to leave the house early in the morning and be away all day. The actual time you spend doing anything to the dish is not that great, however, so it really is not that time-consuming.
