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The only wall I support is by Pink Floyd.

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These are really good refried beans. They’re super flavorful. I enjoy them as-is, or scooped up with tortilla chips. Of course they’re a great side for tacos or burritos, but you can just as easily make really good tacos or burritos out of them. They’re good in a torta, but they’re also good as a spread for any kind of meat-based sandwich, whether hot or cold, Mexican or not.

Ingredients for 3½ cups of beans, serving about 7 people

1½ cups dried pinto beans
1 cup (4¾ oz.) chopped white onion, divided
1 whole red bell pepper (6 oz.), seeded and stemmed
1 clove fresh garlic, peeled; or 2 cloves roasted garlic
1 tsp. salt, plus more for seasoning
2 Tbs rendered bacon fat
¼ cup crumbled Cotija cheese
¼ tsp chili powder
Zest of ¼ lemon
4 slices cooked (crispy) bacon
2 Tbs. minced cilantro, optional

How To:

1. In a large pot, combine the beans, all but 1 Tbs of the onion, and the bell pepper, garlic, and salt. Add enough water to cover by 2½ inches. Cover, set over medium heat, bring to a low boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the beans are very soft, approximately 2 hours.
2. Remove and discard the bell pepper. Drain the beans, reserving all the cooking liquid. Measure out 2 cups of the liquid and set the rest aside.
3. Heat the bacon fat in a large skillet over a medium flame. Add the remaining Tbs of onion and the drained beans. Ladle in the 2 cups of bean-cooking liquid, about ¼ cup at a time, while slowly stirring and smashing the beans with the back of a wooden spoon. Continue this until you’ve used all 2 cups of the liquid, and the beans are just a bit thinner than desired consistency, approximately 10 minutes. (The beans will continue to thicken as they cool.) Season with (as much as a teaspoon of) salt.
4. Mix cheese, chili powder, and zest. Garnish beans with cheese mixture, bacon, (and cilantro).

Refried Beans with Cotija Crumble is a mash-up of one from Saveur another from Cacique. They’re good at room temperature, great warm. They can be made days in advance and reheated.

Notes:

1. A medium-sized onion will do the trick.
2. Don’t slice or chop the pepper. Just halve it.
3. I prefer to cook bacon in the oven. I don’t think you get as much rendered fat this way, but what you do get is pure. Bacon is somewhat delicate, and tends to become stretched out as you remove slices from the slab. Carefully work against this: it helps to pull pieces away from the slab two at a time, and then separate them from one another. Furthermore, as you lay them in the pan, the slices tends to stretch, especially the middle. Work against this, too. It’s best not to have them overlap, but it’s also disappointing when you can fit all but two slices in … so, maybe overlap a few of them. (If you’re really observant, you’re wondering how it is that I can’t fit four slices of bacon – the amount required by this recipe – into a pan. No one cooks four slices of bacon. You could a pound if you need a slice, and you feast on the rest! Do I really have to tell you these things?) Now let’s talk about that oven: cold? Or pre-heated? Some say that cooler temperatures will produce better bacon, but I’m not sure if a cold oven, or an oven set to a lower temperature would better accomplish this. I’m not sure I’m so heavily into bacon that I want to test that out. I do this: 400ºF, cold oven, foil-lined pan. (A rack helps make prettier slices; that’s not necessary in this case.) At least 30 minutes. Click here for miLam’s Bacon Reviews.
4. The cooking process will produce more than the 2 cups of bean-cooking liquid that you need for Step 3. You’ll probably just throw the excess liquid out. However, once you allow the beans to cool, you’ll have a better gauge of how thick they are. If you’ve made them thicker than you prefer, you can thin them out with tablespoonsful of bean liquid if you keep it around. Plus, if you’re making the beans in advance, you might want to reserve a cup of the liquid to use in case it’s necessary when when reheating. It probably won’t be necessary, but this gives you some insurance.
5. You’re going to want tortillas with this. Here’s a recipe.
6. If you want to do the initial cooking in an Instant Pot, it’s like this: Pour the beans, onion, pepper, garlic, and salt into the insert and cover them with 4 cups of water. Twist on the lid. Set the Bean/Chili function to more (temperature), high (pressure), 40 mins. Natural Release.

When I was in college one of my housemates took a job in the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant that was the hangout, which instantly conferred rock star status upon her. The restaurant was in the basement of a commercial building, accessed by a long, narrow stairwell. It was dark, and the seating was divided into small “rooms.” I was sure that if there were a fire, we’d all die, but the nachos were in fact to die for. Anyway, my housemate hipped all of us to this restaurant’s secret recipe for beans, and she swore us to secrecy – so this recipe is not that one. I’m nothing if not loyal. Nonetheless, making beans takes me back to those days. Beans are so cheap, so good for you, and so tasty. They do take a while to cook, but it’s mostly unattended.

Refried Beans with Cotija Crumble

Refried doesn’t mean “fried again.” It is apparently a mistaken translation, akin to a false cognate. The Spanish name for this dish is frijoles refritos: frijoles means “beans,” fritos means “fried.” But the prefix re, which often means “again” in English, is sometimes used instead as an intensifier in Spanish. In that case, it means well-fried, which make a whole lot more sense. Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited, nor written in exchange for anything. Unrelated bonus: here are some guys making Twinkies.

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