[Lost Dog]

Salt the cooking water. The tough bean skin thing is a myth. But, as beans cook, they absorb the liquid. The only way to get them salty is to salt the water at the onset of cooking. You can add more salt at the end, of course, but it will just be in the liquid, not the bean, itself.

The long cooking time is merely because they are hard and need time to soften to absorb liquid. Simmer very slowly or the beans swell faster than the shell came expand, and your beans will split.

Soaking allows them to cook faster, once cooking starts. I don't soak, because it only shortens cooking time by about 30-45 minutes.

Some people soak them so they can dump the liquid, believing that gas will be reduced. I've tried it both ways. You either have gas from the proteins you can't digest or you don't... With black beans, if you dump the liquid, the beans are grey beans, not black, so don't be dumping it out. Some baking soda keeps the beans from greying out, too. Ph is important with black beans.

Lentils and split peas do not "require" soaking or long cooking times. They are soft shelled legumes and have vastly shortened cooking times. Split peas can be soup in an hour. Brown lentils can be done in 45 minutes. Red and yellow lentils are even faster.