Refried Beans: A love story

 

The aroma of beans cooking in my apartment  immediately  transported me  to my mother’s kitchens everywhere she lived. There was always a pot of beans on the stove in a special chipped blue enamel-ware  olla or pot just like in  kitchens, rich or poor,  all over rural Mexico and even “fine”  houses in  Mexico, D.F, Guadalajara, or Monterrey.  Beans are central to the identity of a Mexican and are part of every meal. .

Caldo de frijoles,  a light pureed, largely unseasoned soup is the first regular food most Mexican babies eat but I was unusually bean-minded. Mother loved to tell the story of the time Mr. Bronson, a partner”angel” of my parents took me to my first fancy lunch, at age two or three, at the luxurious El Paso del Norte Hotel.  I ordered “un plato grande de frijoles (a big plate of beans.) When I outgrew and discarded  my imaginary friend, Alicio, I told everyone that he had drowned in a pot of beans!

One of the few kitchen responsibilities we had at our  ranch  in Chihuahua as children was to clean a large bandeja of pinto beans each day.  We’d sit under a weeping willow every afternoon carefully discarding any small stones and debris .  We’d eat frijoles de la olla right out of the pot with a squirt of vinegar, some chopped onion and crumbled cilantro or refried in home-rendered lard with lots of freshly made asadero (string) cheese with corn tortillas,  or formed into burritos as snacks for our outings on horseback. Father’s favorite were frijoles chinitos, beans baked in a hot oven until almost crunchy.

I have become good friends with the computer technician who solves all technological problems for me, big and small.  I am always touched that his face  lights up when he answers his wife’s frequent  telephone calls when he is working on a project here.  I would probably be annoyed but Victor is still madly in love with his wife of many years and she with him. I  know they like to be together all day on weekends  so I invited them  for a traditional Mexican breakfast of eggs with homemade chorizo and some refried beans when Viktor agreed to come on Saturday to rewire my apartment to increase the bandwidth for my new online Mexican Cooking Live with Zarela on Google Plus every Sunday at 11:00AM.  As they ate I asked them to tell me their love story.

They looked at each other lovingly and their eyes welled up with tears as they told me that their romance began as an arrangement to facilitate immigration from Communist Romania  to the United States.  Both divorced and disillusioned, they  decided to leave  the country. but as a single mother of three, the popularly-named Galina  had little chance  of being admitted so a friend arranged a meeting.  They got married and made a formal pact that either could walk out with no repercussions once they settled in New York.  That was 23 years ago..

 

Frijoles Refritos en Mantequilla

Refried Beans with Butter

 

 

One thing I’ve learned when eating in Veracruz is to expect the unexpected.

I never know when I have to come across some charming original touch that transforms the familiar.  It happened to me at La Viuda restaurant in Alvarado when our order arrived with a bowl of refried beans. “What tastes so wonderful in these?” I wondered.  Dora Hernández supplied the clue to the rich, elusive quality I was picking up on: the

Beans are refried in a mixture of butter and grated onion.  This is one case where pinto beans might be used instead of black beans.

 

1 large white onion

1 pound cooked pinto beans

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

 

Grate the onion on the fine side of a box grater or coarsely chop and grind to a puree in the food processor.  Set aside.

Drain the beans in a colander, reserving about 1 ½ cups of the cooking liquid.  Working in batches as necessary, process the beans to a smooth paste in a blender or food

processor, using the reserved cooking liquid as necessary to help the action of the blades.

In a medium heavy skillet, heat the butter over medium heat.  When it foams, add the onion and cook until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.  Add the beans, stir to mix thoroughly, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the beans are thoroughly imbued with the butter flavor.  Taste for salt and add as desired.  Serve hot.

 

Makes 6 servings