It depends what the final recipe will be. If it's to go with a lovely piece of cod, then I usually cook the beans then start the saucy part....; onion, garlic, celery, carrot, chicken stock..... herbs then the beans.

If it's to go with sausages rather more like cassoulet, then I boil the beans until almost cooked then start with the aromats..... onions, bay leaves..... then drain then start on the sauce proper. Onions, garlic, tomato, thyme.... Usually wing it. Over here, we don't really eat the smoky/mélasse/sweet beans that I think you eat over your way.

Lentils are a different beast. For Puy lentils with smoked pork meats, then we would bring the water to boil, then add the meat, lentils and aromats.

For Indian style - dhal - then it's different again. I'd follow a recipe for that.

We great really good cooked beans and lentils in tins and jars so I often use them :)

I tend to cook my dry beans either plain or with a bay leaf. I then put them in the freezer till I need them. I do this instead of using canned beans. I do still buy canned kidney beans because I'm too lazy for the cooking process to make those really edible, and I buy seasoned butterbeans and baked beans still. Usually eat beans once a week or so.

From there, depends on the dish. Chili gets chili seasonings, Refry pintos get their seasonings- I like using Sazon. Black bean soup is a bit of a different profile. Chickpeas are often in curry and get those spices. Italian dishes will get Italian seasonings. And so on. I don't always season a dish to the beans- usually I'm making a dish that beans are just part of the ingredients. I do often choose a bean for a dish- like Royal Corona is a big ole bean and great smooth meaty bite, but I wouldn't use it where I would use a nutty and crunchier chickpea. Chickpeas aren't awesome in lasagna, but RC's are wonderful there.

Bean soup I do from dry, and add in the ham bone during the cooking process. Usual soup seasonings. Lentils I do from dry most of the time since they cook up so fast.

Just a bay leaf or two. Pinch of salt at the end of cooking.

I've been freezing for about a year now. I pick two bean varieties, about a 1/3rd or half pound of each. Enough to feeze a cup of each. Same with mixed grains. I season once i've decided how to use them. Just cooked a pot of chick peas and some green split peas.

I roasted some chick peas, had some in soup, and making some hummus today.

I don't season spefically because some may go in the pups food tonight. (onions are toxic)

I do often take out a pyrex container of each, then season the rest left in the pot when tender.

I make two spice blends---a curry and a Oaxacan dry mole for black beans. Excellent for a side dish or vegetarian tamales.

A couple quart freezer zip-locks have a mixed variety of beans i keep adding to. For salads or soups.

I quit the RanchoGordo bean club last Spring.It was fun for a while until i started saying, "oh no, not another box of beans!". After a few years i know what we like and will just order once/twice a year. My bulk chickpeas, winter wheat, and lentils are from Palouse.

Another simple bay leaf when cooking from scratch - and I add salt at the end of cooking too. I also store in the freezer in 1 pint jars to use later.

And I do the same thing - seasoning appropriate to the dish. Mexican/Southwestern style pinto beans get seasoned with chopped onions, bell peppers, olive oil, cumin seed, black pepper, oregano, fresh marjoram, garlic and chiles - and I often use smoked sea salt and chipotle for extra flavor.

I make a red lentil stew with celery, onions, garlic, cubes of winter squash, barley, and lots of Frontier Co-op curry powder - and salt of course.

Black beans are seasoned with cumin, oregano, thyme, coriander, garlic, celery, carrot, sweet peppers and onions and a bit of lime juice. I make black-eyed peas almost the same way, minus coriander and lime, and add a bit of chopped tomato and lots of fresh flat leaf parsley.

Smoked sea salt has really upped the flavor in most of my cooking nowadays. I use it for all sorts of things, since I don't eat pork, so no bacon or ham in my cooking.

This has reminded me that I have a bunch of Great Northern beans waiting to be made into soup - which would be carrots, onions and celery, thyme, garlic, black pepper and smoked salt with olive oil and probably fresh marjoram, since I have so much and it makes most things taste really good.

I often use plain unsalted chicken stock to cook the beans too - made with bay leaf as well.

I’m going to have to try the bay leaf! if I'm making beans to be served as a bean dish, I might start them with some aromatics or flavoring agent, but usually, I cook the beans to be cooked beans, usually not as soft as some prefer—I like them with a little chew more than ”buttery”— and just use good tasting water. Then, when I'm making something with them, I start them with salt and whatever, and flavor them to whatever. But I'm far more likely to put beans in stews and soups, or smashed salads, like hummus in sesame, than whole in mixed vegetable salads or whole bean salads. Which reminds me, I haven't made Lebanese Mousaka in ages! I'm still sidelined, but I have to put it on the list for when I can cook big things again. It's a stew of eggplant, tomatoes, onion, garbanzos, pomegranate molasses, and spices, and so good!

I've added whole cloves of garlic, but generally just add salt midway through the cooking process. If I were cooking the beans to serve by themselves I would add more seasoning, but they're usually an addition to some dish I'm making.

In addition to many of the above suggestions, we soak our meatless beans in vegetable broth and add another quart when cooking. I’ve also added Kale about an hour before the beans are done, turning the heat off for an hour or so for the flavors to meld and then reheating to serve.

I no longer soak dried beans because I find doing so results in a blander bean. I enjoy beans much more when cooked with aromatics, and like others have shared, it depends upon the dish.

Yesterday, I sauteed carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf and garlic cloves in olive oil, added water and Royal Corona, covered and simmered for 3.5 hours, turned off the stove, and once cooled, refrigerated them. I had them for lunch, and they are so flavorful.

I've never considered freezing cooked beans. I'll have to give this a try.

I do not add anything to Royal Corona beans when I cook them - I prefer them plain.

When cooking other beans, the ingredients vary depending on the beans, and I usually cook them plain and then add the other ingredients after they are cooked. The exceptions are when I make soups, such as minestrone, Cuban black bean soup, or lentil, and I make lentil soup either with Middle Eastern spices or Indian.

Here are the ingredients I use for Cuban black bean soup:

• 2 cups Black turtle beans (I didn't measure I used a 1# pkg) 3 TBSP olive oil
  2 ham hocks (I used a 1/2 lb hickory smoked bacon) or chicken legs/thighs
  2 cups thinly sliced onion
  6 garlic cloves minced
  1 green pepper diced 1 red bell pepper diced 3 TBSP tomato paste (I used the whole can)
  1 tsp ground cumin
  1 tsp ground oregano
  3 bay leaves cracked
  1 TBSP salt to taste
  1 Tsp ground pepper
  6 quarts water
  3 TBSP chopped cilantro (optional)
  1/2 cup red wine vinegar

I got this recipe from Maria (who is from Cuba) on the cooking forum, and I cut it in half when I make it.

When I cook pinto beans as a Mexican side dish, I cook the beans plain and then purée them with Rotel tomatoes, onion, oregano, cilantro, cumin, jalapeño (or other chili), and salt.

The beans came out quite delicious - both solo and in the chili.

I like onions, garlic and carrots because they cook down into the bean liquid so well. Plus I feel like they will go with whatever I am doing with the beans.

I often do peppercorns, cardamom, garlic and salt. A few years ago a friend gifted me a large amount of particularly fragrant plump cardamom pods. I started adding them to various dishes. I will have to try the simple bay leaf.

I dithered about making the chili with chicken or not. I ended up going vegan with a take on this recipe. I am not sure about the quinoa. I did like the mix of lentils and beans. Most importantly I used a pint of my canned salsa verde. I haven’t been quite sure how to use the salsa. I brought some chili to my mom’s for dinner last night. Served with some chopped arugula, a very very pink curtido (made with purple cabbage and onions and carrots) and sour cream mixed with cilantro chutney. Plus I brought along a few spinach pies I had just made. Kind of a mixed up dinner.

https://cooknourishbliss.com/2015/01/09/white-bean-salsa-verde-chili-lentils-quinoa/#mv-creation-312-jtr

I also season beans according to the dish I'm making.

I grew a LOT of beans last year. Cannellini, kidney, cranberry, crowder peas, Christmas Lima, Good Mother Stallard, Jacob's Cattle (red and gold), Scarlet Runner, Cherokee Trail of Tears. Elery had that second hip replaced the end of July and I did all the gardening, so he spent time shelling beans, LOL.

I most often make a "mess" of beans with just carrot/onion/celery and some salt and pepper. Elery does like a handful of greens in there. I'm a big fan of red beans and rice, which gets the cajun treatment, although mild because I'm a wuss. The cranberry beans make great refried beans and the cannellini often gets cooked with a leftover ham bone or pork hock for bean soup. I'm also a big fan of the New England style baked beans, which the Jacob's Cattle is really good for. The Good Mother STallard actually reminds me of a garbanzo in the shape and texture, and they make awesome "hummus". And, of course, there's minestrone. I don't really care for lentils, the texture is too weird, but Elery loves them. I do make lentil soup sometimes, but I refuse to grow them, I can't imagine shelling the little suckers!

We have beans 3 or 4 times a week, only because I grew so many. I froze some, dried some and canned some, so what I use depends on my time and the application.

Annie