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1 - soak 150g of beans in 1L of water for 12 hours
2 - chuck in an onion (cut in half), bay leaf, 4 pieces garlic, 1/2 tsp salt
3 - bing to boil for 10 mins, scraping off any scum
4 - simmer for 1 more hour, before removing the vegetables + leaf BUT NOT THE WATER
5 - fry an onion (chopped finely) in salted butter until golden
6 - add an chilli (I used ancho and apocalypse red) and 2 pieces garlin, both chopped finely
7 - mash beans + water with a potato masher
8 - add the beans along with some oregano and stir
9 - maybe cook a bit more for the liquids to evaporate and then serve
You lost me at the lack of added fat, a critical component for refried beans. Yes, there’s a little butter called for with the onion, but not nearly enough fat (ie, none) added to the beans.
Call me a pedantic purist gatekeeper who grew up eating these almost daily, but you posted mashed beans, not refried beans.
Around 100 g butter (not just a small knob of butter), maybe I didn’t emphasize that enough
That’s better. :-)
The following is not direct criticism, as I have used butter to make refried beans and it is easily available - but, butter should be the low down the fat choice list as it has a strong flavor that competes with the beans. The first and most obvious/traditional fat to use is pig lard, but a neutral oil or shortening works perfectly well, too. My grandmother would use saved, rendered bacon fat from a Folgers coffee can she kept near the stove (because she always had bacon fat, grandaddy had to have bacon for every breakfast). I have also used olive oil, but only if making black beans (which can stand up to the flavor). Avocado oil works well, too.
I will try other fats too later. I have used ghee before and it was pretty nice. Do you have any other suggestions?
Nope no other suggestions. Lard and bacon fat are the most common around here (Texas). Olive oil will often appear on menus ostensibly for health reasons. Avocado oil use is growing. I, too, have used ghee but I found the flavor off-putting. (EDIT: However, there are very similar Indian lentil- and bean-based recipes to refried beans where the ghee is perfect, of course. )
Really, what’s most important is getting the generous-but-right amount of fat into the beans to emulsify them. Too little and they’re chalky and paste-like. Too much and they’re overbearingly rich and greasy. Just right and the beans are silky and soft (EDIT: almost but not quite runny when the plate is tilted). That is where I come down strongly and die on that hill. But the particular fat used to achieve this? I have my preferences which I think I can defend, but I am not religious about it.
(This makes me think of a complete side note, Hummus-bit-Tahini needs the same attention to emulsifying the bean with a proper amount of fat. Too many hummus recipes on the internet have far too little oil in them…)
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I like this method a lot because the beans get flavored at every step. It’s also a nice springboard to discuss canned versus dry beans. I don’t used canned beans because I try to do the same thing as you: flavor the beans at every step. I make chickpea salad quite often and it’s so much better if you start with dry beans because you can boil them in water with flavorings.
Also the price lmao
Yeah, for once something is cheaper and actually better! Not a lot of things work that way in this world so you gotta cherish them when you find them!
You can have price, flavour and convenience. Pick 2.
