Cuban Black Beans

This recipe was the best black beans I've ever made. Since Cuban food is not "hot", I left out the hot green peppers and just added a dash of Tabasco for personal flavor. And, since I am a Cajun cook, first I sautéed all the veggies in butter and added a splash of chicken stock after they were soft, before adding them to my beans. I also reduced the Balsamic down to 1/8 cup (due to other's recommendations here). All of the ingredients here were spot on (with the exceptions of the peppers).

Since it was just the two of us, I wanted to make a smaller portion using canned black beans. I actually weighed one can of beans and while it was a 15-1/2 oz. can, it weighed just 8 ozs., which was perfect to scale this recipe down to half. I sauteed the vegetables in butter first (used jalapeno for the hot green chile pepper called for), then added the drained and rinsed beans, the seasonings, and 1 cup of chicken stock. I was too chicken to use the full amount of balsamic vinegar called for, so for this half recipe I added only 1 T., half the amount called for. I simmered it all, uncovered, until most of the stock was absorbed. This was just delicious and pretty on the plate. Hubby said he hates black beans, but he likes these since this wasn't as spicy or hot as some black bean recipes are. This was the perfect accompaniment to our Cuban meal of Sea Bass Cuban Style, Saffron Rice and Jicama Salad with Cilantro and Lime, all recipes from this site.

Bad: too vinegary and somewhat bitter (from the reaction of the vinegar with something else?). After reading other reviews I was worried about the vinegar so I only added 2 tablespoons (of white vinegar -- I didn't have balsamic around) instead of the quarter-cup the recipe calls for. But this was just tuned out badly. My roommate suggested that adding sugar tends to counteract a vinegar flavor so I did that and that made the dish more edible. (With that change, it might've managed to get three stars if only it didn't take so much planning to prepare.)