Gasless Beans?

Those who know me are doing a double-take - *Julie* is writing about *beans?!?* But she *hates* beans!

Well, they are still not my favorite food, but - since Gallo Pinto is practically the national food of Costa Rica, and I do live in Costa Rica, I decided a while back that I needed to investigate this bean phenomenon a bit more.
I found a good Gallo Pinto recipe, and then found a whole bunch of tips on how to cook beans so that they aren´t quite so musical...
So, I cooked a batch of beans the other day, and used *all* of the tips that I could. And here´s the result!
and it seems to work...

Gasless Beans

Clean beans, and rinse
Cover beans with water, add 1T baking soda
Bring to boil, simmer for 15 minutes
Drain and rinse
Cover beans with water (~ 1 inch above top) and soak overnight in fridge
Drain and rinse
Beans should be a little slimy
Cover beans with water (~ 1 inch above top)
Add:
- ginger (1 joint, ~ 1 inch)
- garlic powder
- 1 onion
- 1/2 chili dulce
- 1T honey
- 1 medium potato
- 1 jalapeño pepper

Bring to boil, reduce to simmer approx 1.5 - 2 hrs. A cooked bean should squish to a paste when you squeeze it with your fingers.

Notes:
- all the additions don't really flavor the beans.
- I probably used too much water to cook them.
- Next time, I will try cooking w/ less ingredients, then adding them to the cooked beans along w/ the rice, etc. for Gallo Pinto.
- Definitely add salt! but later - if you add it before the beans are done, they will stay hard.

And, believe it or not, I am becoming a bit enamored of the humble black bean...