Refried Beans
Keep in mind that your refried beans are only as good as the beans with which you begin. If you want really flavorful refried beans, you must start with homemade beans, such as the recipe I provide on page 78. Those make especially good refried beans since they have a good amount of broth, which reduces during cooking and provides an incredible depth of flavor. In a bind, you can use canned beans—just keep in mind that you will not achieve the same intensity of flavor.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Render the Bacon Fat
Step 1
Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Allow the bacon to cook slowly and melt its fat. As the bacon gets crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. You can serve the bacon with the beans, or save them for another use.
Sauté the Onion
Step 2
Keeping the skillet on the stove, decrease the heat to medium, and add the onion. Cook the onion slowly until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. (The bacon fat can burn easily so make sure you do not increase the heat too high.)
Mash the Beans
Step 3
Once the onions are soft, add half of the beans with their broth to the pan and stir to combine well. Using a potato masher or a fork, mash the beans until most of them are crushed.
Step 4
Add the remaining beans with their broth and continue mashing until you achieve the consistency of a coarse puree. Stir to blend the mixture well.
Step 5
Continue cooking over medium heat until any liquid that remains has been absorbed and the mashed bean mixture is creamy. Be careful not to burn the beans because that results in a bitter flavor.
Garnish and Serve
Step 6
Transfer the refried beans to a serving bowl and top with crumbles of queso fresco and crispy bacon.
COOKING NOTES
Step 7
INGREDIENTS
Step 8
Bacon Drippings versus Lard
Step 9
One thing is for sure: refried beans should be made with an animal fat. Purists will only use lard when making these beans, but I find it is best to use bacon drippings unless you can get freshly rendered lard (the refrigerated kind). A benefit of bacon is the crispy bacon nuggets that are left over, which you can use as a sort of chicharrón (crackling).
Step 10
TECHNIQUES
Step 11
Making Bacon Drippings
Step 12
Don’t be tempted to render bacon fat over high heat. Make sure you set the heat no higher than medium-high. Animal fats tend to have low smoking points (they burn at low temperatures), which can lead to an undesirable dark color and off-flavors.
Step 13
ADVANCE PREPARATION
Step 14
This recipe can be made a couple of days in advance. Store the crispy bacon in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
