Mexican Black Beans

Have you ever made beans or legumes from scratch? I promise I will not judge if the answer is no. It just isn't that common these days. But I wanted to make a case for you to try it out. It's like the difference between storebought sliced bread and freshly baked wholesome homemade bread. The distance between is astronomical! And the best thing: it's not hard. It is merely somewhat time-consuming, and requires a small amount of planning.
A few notes, before I give you the recipe, which I have adapted to my own taste preferences from the well-regarded Mexican food missionary Rick Bayless's own recipe.
Firstly, this: you do not need to soak all beans or legumes. Some do not require it, but you conversely will not harm any by soaking, if you so choose, either. A longer simmer time will allow more flavors to blend into the beans, and your house will smell divine. If you do soak, please be sure to change the water a couple times. This purportedly helps with digestibility of beans. Which, as we all know, is a priority.
Secondly: Rick highly suggests adding the difficult-to-find herb epazote to the bean-pot. I have only done this once, and then struggled to find any other use for the large tray of it which slowly suffocated in my refrigerator. I have heard there is dried epazote out there (which you could do yourself as well), but as I didn't particularly relish the flavor anyway, I skip it. You also need to know that there is no flavor analog in other herbs and nothing can really be substituted for it. Another function of epazote is its help with digestibility (more yay!). Since I usually have kombu on hand, which also has that benefit, I use it instead. As long as you remove it as it comes to a boil, the oceany flavor will not be apparent.

Third: please play with flavors. Keep it simple, don't use the cumin or cilantro, or add garlic or carrots, or add a lot of chiles—it's up to you! Beans are one of the most versatile foods on the planet.
Additionally: do not salt the beans until they are mostly or entirely cooked. Salt can change the texture of beans (or other products), and the stability of the texture of beans is usually desirable (until you refry them!).
And...most importantly: use animal fat. I wouldn't recommend butter as the smoke-point is so low, but really, when is butter a bad thing? Lard (and please please please make sure it's not the grey hydrogenated type from an unidentified processing plant) is best, as are bacon drippings (just keep your bacon fat from breakfast) or chorizo fat renderings. Beans + pig fat = true true love. You will not, I repeat, not, regret.
Serve with cilantro, salsa, crema, cotija, avocado, tortillas, fresh corn, tamales, or whatever you fancy. YUM. Also, drink beer. But did you really need me to validate that?
Tool recommendations: patience.

Mexican Black Beans

By Cowen Park Kitchen

Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen

Yield: 4 or so cups

Ingredients

• 8 oz. (about 1 1/4 c) dry black beans
• 1 1/2 T. lard, bacon drippings, or other rendered fat
• 1/2 medium white onion, small dice
• 1 inch piece kombu (optional)
• 1 t. (or less/more depending on taste and if salted fat is used) kosher salt
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1 t. Ancho chile paste
• 1 inch cilantro stems, chopped finely
• 1 qt. water plus extra along the way

Method

1. Rinse beans.
2. On medium heat, saute onion in fat with chile paste, cilantro stems and cumin until onion relaxes and releases a beautiful aroma. 
3. Add beans and stir to coat beans well, then add about 1 qt. water and kombu. If any beans float, remove them. They will not be edible.
4. Bring up to a boil, remove kombu, then reduce heat to low-ish (achieve a simmer) and cook partially covered (a piece of foil loosely will work well, or a too-big lid askew) until beans are tender (with no "al dente" feeling when broken open). This will be about 2 hours, give or take, depending on heat and age of beans.
5. Stir beans often and add more water to cover when necessary (about 1/2 inch above beans is best).
6. When you decide the beans are tender enough (you basically cannot overcook them, so relax), add salt (as I mentioned, you may prefer more, depending on what the beans are served with—but always start lower than you think you need—beans are rather flavorful to begin with) and simmer uncovered another 10 or so minutes. You may leave the consistency thinner and soupy, or you may let the water evaporate more. Keep in mind that as beans cool, some water is absorbed back into the beans. 
7. Serve hot, or let cool, then reheat and adjust consistency and seasoning.