Looks Done

Cooked Beans and ham bone

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Southwestern U.S. cuisine | Tex-Mex cuisine

Oddly enough, refried beans (frijoles refritos) are only fried once. The prefix "re" is a Spanish prefix meaning "very" or "well", inappropriately tacked onto a non-Spanish word.

Ingredients

• Snap beans, especially pinto beans or black beans
• butter (optional) or home-rendered lard (optional)

Procedure

1. If using dried beans, wash them then cover with water in a medium pot and simmer according to the package directions. You may add onion halves or a ham bone, which you can remove at the end.
2. If using canned beans, rinse them briefly before use.
3. Smash the beans, perhaps with a potato masher.
4. Add home-rendered lard or butter, totaling up to 20% of the total. (25% of the amount prior to adding) (optional, or you may use a substantially smaller amount of some other oil or omit entirely)
5. Fry the beans, stirring and turning them until they thicken to the degree you desire, which can be anywhere between soupy and parched.

Recipes using refried beans include

• Burrito
• Pupusa