Traditional Refritos

Name: Traditional Refritos
Yield: makes 8 large servings
Ingredients: 8 ounces dried black beans, rinsed 2 or 3 times in cold water and picked over for stones; 4 quarts plus 1 cup (more or less) water; 1 head garlic, halved; 1/2 large white onion; 3 teaspoons chipotle puree (page 153); 3 teaspoons tomato paste; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 1 bay leaf; 1/4 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground (page 164); 3 small Roma tomatoes, blackened (page 164), or fire-roasted canned tomatoes, if available; 1 jalapeño chile, dry-roasted and stemmed; 1 tablespoon kosher salt; 1/4 cup vegetable oil, for refrying

January 26, 2012

Refritos—refried beans—are one of the most common side dishes in Mexican and Southwestern restaurants. Finding a good rendition, though, is rare. Most places use flavorless canned beans for a base—already a poor start. And they don’t take the time to slowly cook and stir them to infuse the mixture with flavor and texture. The best refritos are made from beans cooked from scratch with many different seasonings so the beans absorb the flavors and the cooking liquid is intense and balanced. Here are two recipes for refritos. The first is for black beans cooked from a dried state, which takes several hours to prepare. The second requires just forty minutes and uses canned black beans that are already cooked as a base.

Recipe notes

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