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 information
Yield
makes 8 large servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Drain the beans, watching for any rocks you might have missed earlier, and place in a large, heavy pot. Add the water, garlic, onion, chipotle puree, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, cumin, tomatoes, and chile, and gently simmer over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Add small amounts of water as necessary to keep the beans covered, but not more than you need or the beans will be watery.
Step 2
When cooked, remove from the heat and add the salt. Remove the bay leaf and garlic. Squeeze out the softened garlic cloves from their skins back and return to the pot. In the jar of a blender, add the contents of the pot and puree until smooth.
Step 3
To refry the bean puree, in a large, heavy nonstick skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add the puree and bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium-high and cook until the beans are a thick, semisolid consistency, about 20 minutes. Adjust the salt, if necessary.
