Pass on Cook's Illustrated's Cuban Black Beans and Rice.......

.....but not because it's a bad recipe.

I have been a consistent fan of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Not every article, recipe or thought - but they put  out a lot of good information.

This past weekend I made their Cuban Black Bean and Rice dish. They loaded it up with ingredients and techniques to give lots of punch to what can be a bland dish. For example, when cooking the beans, they called for fortifying the cooking liquid with half an onion, bay leaf, green pepper and probably a few more ingredients. Not earth-changing, but I've not seen too many bean recipes (can't think of any) that call for that approach. Usually the beans are cooked plain, then seasoned with whatever comes next. It also called for a handful of finely chopped salt pork. Great addition.

Anyway. The dish was delicious.  Yet I won't make it again. It was time-consuming, called for a long list of ingredients, it required cooking in multiple but separate steps, on the stovetop and in the oven.

Good recipe, nice payoff. But too much labor and elapsed time for me to go at it again. Buy their magazine, though. It's good.