Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Refried Beans.

It's astonishing, the amount of invective hurled at this simple dish.  Identity and food can be so overwhelming,and, of course, the basis of ethnic stereotypes and slurs.

However, this is a dish I embrace. 

Three cups of home made beans, including liquid.
In a deep skillet, heat one to two tablespoons of lard. (Of course you can use vegetable oil, you can even doctor it later with butter and milk--but there is no substitute for this animal fat.)
When hot, turn off the heat, stand back, and pour in the beans. When the sizzling has stopped,
raise the heat to medium.  Take your potato masher, and start mashing.  I personally like them fairly well pulverized.  Allow the liquid to bubble away, to your preferred consistency. Thick or thin, it's your call.

The beans should already be well-seasoned, but if they seem too bland, add salt.

I really have been quite thick about comfort foods, not understanding ice cream and macaroni and cheese as go-tos.  And yet, if I think about it, refried beans made just right, on a hot flour tortilla, with a dollop of sour cream, is my Valium.

6 comments:

  1. Oh yeah.

    I've never heard invective associated with refried beans, except "fattening."

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  2. mmm refried beans, vodka and cigarettes

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  3. Lard is so under-appreciated. Years ago it sustained Americans like no other staple. My father was a butcher and we saved every ounce of pork fat. After several hundred pounds were were collected, (frozen) it was shipped off to small processer who would turn it into lard and return it to us in blue 25 lb. tins.

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  4. Steve! We're on the same team!

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