These are delicious and wildly inexpensive. As is true for any bean dish, starting with dried beans that you cook yourself is more flavorful and cheaper, but canned are completely fine, and you can use any kind you like. Cooked in a skillet (just like pancakes), the cakes get golden and crisp on the outside while staying slightly creamy in the middle. I eat these with a handful of dressed greens, raw or cooked, on the side. Easy, rustic, good.