On 2009-02-19, The Ranger > wrote:

> his chumming the waters with such a provocatively simple piece of prose.

[blush]

> If he could tell the difference between two beans in a blind-tasting after
> cooking, I'd be surprised.

If you can't tell the difference between, say, a pinto bean and a lima bean,
then what the Hell is the advantage of a 15 bean mix? Does an all white
bean mix taste the same as an all black/red bean mix. I seriously doubt it.

If you want to use an anology, a symphony orchestra pretty much sucks, as
there is no similarity whatsoever. Classical music has solo passages. Do
you start picking out beans from your mix to experience that one bean?
If so, we're back to the advantages of solo bean dishes. If I was to use an
anology, I'd use a miropoix, a specific mix of aromatic veggies (carrot,
celery, onion) or the Holy Trinity (bell pepper, celery, onion). These are
marriages of 3 aromatic veggies, but notice it's not 15! veggies. There's
such a thing as too much.

If 15 beans is good, which 15? If it doesn't matter, then what's the point?

nb