To follow up quickly on the food theme. After the previous post and the few earlier ones this year one might end up with an impression that making caipirinhas is the most valuable thing I learned in Brazil. But it’s not. If I were to forget everything I ever learned in Brazil and keep just one thing, it would be: black beans. Much like the chocolate chip cookies are the greatest invention ever made north of Rio Grande, black beans must be the best contribution ever made by the Latin America. And while you can’t survive on chocolate chip cookies, just black beans and rice would keep you going for quite a while.

Some Brazilians would consider a meal complete without rice and beans. I haven’t gotten to that point, but I do like to have tub of beans in the refrigerator. There are a few tricks to cooking beans, but once you keep those in mind, it’s really quite simple. The rules are:

• Soak them overnight
• Cook them for at least 2 hours
• Cook them the day before
• Give them enough water
• Use onions, garlic and bay leaf for seasoning

The first three of those go together. The easiest thing to screw up when cooking beans it undercook them. Undercooked beans are nasty. And they take forever. You should always soak black beans overnight (drain the water before cooking), and then plan to cook them for at least two hours. The good news is that black beans taste even better after a night in the refrigerator. For that reason, there is little point in cooking them in time for a meal – which would be difficult since it takes so long. Instead, I typically start cooking beans after dinner, let them cook to their hearts content, then let them cool, then put them in the refrigerator and eat the next day.

The second thing that I found myself doing wrong the first few times is not giving them enough water. You should start with the water at twice the level of the beans, and shoot for the beans to be fully submerged in liquid at the end. Having extra liquid will keep the beans from drying up later, plus it is arguably the best part. (Some Brazilians drink that liquid by itself before the meal, it’s called “caldinho de feijão”.)

Finally seasoning. Brazilian food isn’t big on spices. So, onions, garlic and bay leaf is all you need. It helps to sauté the onions and minced garlic before throwing them into the pot.