[GangstaPat]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

You could do worse. Apologies for the US measurements.

GREAT BEANS

1 lb. beans. Pinto, black, peruano.
2 baseball-size brown onions, large dice (approx 1/2" X 1/2")
10 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped.
1 Tb. salt. Start with 2 teaspoons.
Ground black pepper.
10 bay leaves.
A gallon of water.
Oil.

Start the water boiling in a separate pot.
Start some oil heating in the bottom of a large, heavy dutch oven or the like.
Rinse the beans in a colander and pick out whatever's in there that isn't beans.
When the oil's hot, throw in the onions and garlic. Stir.
Crank in some black pepper. Don't skimp.
Keep stirring until it looks and feels like apple pie filling. This will take quite a while.
Throw in the beans and carefully add enough boiling water to immerse the whole business.
Add the bay leaves and 2 tsp. of the salt.
Bring the heat down to the lowest that will still maintain a gentle boil, adding water when it needs it. Leave uncovered or not entirely covered.
A couple hours in, taste the liquid (not a bean) to see if you need more salt.

Depending on which kind of beans you use and how old they were when you bought them, figure on at least 4-5 hours. Black beans can take 10.

This is also a split pea soup recipe, but with more water (duh), and no bay leaves.

And although the title is just "Great Beans," they also happen to be great vegan beans. But that's only a selling point with certain people.

Thanks my Dude, I am so using this recipe. And thanks for the advice on the aftermarket cases. I think I will replace the OEM cases on all of my expensive guitars with Hiscox or Caulton. Is Humicase any good? I hope this issue with UPS is resolved quickly and fairly. At this point I don't trust FredEx or UPS with valuable items and I do use Heritage on all of my instruments. Worth every single penny and then some.