Have you ever soaked your own beans?

[Herbert Augustus Chapman]

I've always disregarded any recipe instructing me to 'soak the dried beans overnight'. Who's got time for that sort of faffing about when canned beans work so well and so... instantly?

Well I recently tried a Nigel Slater sausage and chickpea job, and decided to experiment with doing it 'properly' with the dreid chickpeas and the soaking and the hours of boiling... the result was a revelation. Texture, flavour, magnifique!

My advice to you all: can the cans and invest in sacks of dried beans. Maybe I mean legumes? Who can say?

being a tightwad, is the sheer volume of beans a dried pack gives once re-hydrated - makes 'em dirt cheap. It won't be long before you go off them. Too sort of floury and they may look different but all taste exactly the same ...FACT!