Great, just great answers from all of you! I cooked another pot of beans in
the crock pot today. This morning I dropped off two water samples at a
environmental lab, got a friend. I will report back the results.

No time at the moment.

Thank you all!

doc

"David Wright" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 19:32:51 -0500, "William Jennings"
> > wrote:
>
> >Expert advice/opinions and pontification will be much appreaciated. I
want
> >to be able to consistently do this. Yes,
> >I make good/o.k Frijoles a la Charra often but what made them so great
this
> >time?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >doc
>
> doc,
>
> I enjoyed and agreed with what both Wayne and Misschef said. I can add
> only two things.
>
> First, maybe the long, slow cooking helped bring out the flavors of
> all those wonderful and compatible ingredients, something that may not
> happen when you (the collective "you") cook beans rapidly on the stove
> to get them done as soon as possible. That might account for why beans
> and soup often taste better the next day. (I'm going to test that
> hypothesis with my next pot of beans.)
>
> Also, if you're like I used to be when I was doing lots of field work
> and camping, all that fresh air and strenuous activity just makes food
> taste better. I still think back to how good some of the simplest
> meals tasted when I was out of the kitchen and in camp.
>
> Do you do much dutch oven cooking? I used to be friends in Idaho with
> a couple who took people on float trips on the Salmon River. The "she"
> of the couple was a good and versatile cook with dutch ovens, and used
> them for breakfast and dinner every day on the river.
>
> David