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spread on a sheet tray, then rinsed under cold water

dried beans, tipped out and picked over for split beans, shrivelled ones and the small stones and clods that survive commercial sorting, then rinsed until the water runs clear. The stone is the reason this step exists and it is not a superstition — a pebble the size of a bean is invisible in a bowl and finds a molar immediately. Rinsing takes off field dust and the loose surface starch that would otherwise thicken the broth into something cloudy and pasty rather than clear. No soaking is required. If you do soak overnight, drain and start with fresh water, and cut roughly a quarter off the cooking time