My ultimate comfort food.
Refried Beans
2 pounds of dry pinto beans
1/2 lb bacon
bacon drippings
1 teaspoon cumin, divided in fourths
1/2 medium onion (optional, see options section)
2 cloves garlic (optional, see options sections)
salt, to taste
Prep: Grab a 4 lb bag of pinto beans, you can start with 2 lbs if 4 seems like too much. Rinse thoroughly. Check for and discard any dirt, rocks, cracked or shriveled beans.
Soak: Place beans in a pot or two to soak and cover with water for 12 hours at room temperature, beans will double in size so please leave room for expansion. If you don't have 12 hours for soaking go ahead and prep them as described above then place them in a pot or two, leaving room for them to double in size. Place the pot(s) on the stove and bring to a boil, turn off the burner and cover for 4 hours.
Cook: Remove the lids and add enough water so that beans remain covered leaving enough room in the pot for stirring and so they won't boil over. You may have to grab an extra pot at this point and move them around. Place the pot over medium-low heat until it begins to boil, lower heat so that water will remain at a simmer. Simmer for about 3 hours or until tender. I mean really tender, mashable tender. When it gets to about 2 1/2 hours grab a few beans out of the pot and try to mash them. If they mash with ease then you are good to go, if they do not then toss the testers and keep simmering. Watch the water level along the way, you may need to add a bit more as time goes on.
Bacon: Fry the half pound of bacon until crisp. Once bacon strips have cooled either slice them into small bits or run them through a food processor. After the grease has cooled off a bit drain it off into a glass bowl. Do not wash the pan that you fried the bacon in.
Draining the beans: Once the beans are tender you need to drain them. I prefer to drain mine in an over the sink colander with a large bowl underneath to catch the water. However you choose to drain your beans just make sure you reserve about 2 1/2 cups of the water that they cooked in.
Mash-Up: You have two options, easy or hard. Either run the beans through a food processor adding about 1 1/2 cups of beans and 2 TBSP of liquid per cycle or mash them by hand. How much you mash them depends on how smooth you want them, I prefer mine pretty smooth without a lot of whole beans but not to the point of baby food smooth.
Frying: Now comes the good part. Reheat the pan that you fried the bacon in, medium heat should be good. Since you drained the grease off but didn't rinse it, it should still have some grease left in it. Once the pan is hot add in a 1/4 of your beans, add in a quarter of your cumin and a quarter of your bacon bits. While you are frying your beans you are also working the cumin and bacon into them. Once they are well mixed transfer them into a clean dish.
Add a tbsp or two of grease back into your skillet and start with your next quarter of beans. Add in the cumin and beans as above. Repeat for the remaining half of the beans.
While you are frying them you might notice they get dried out, it happens. Don't add in more than a tbsp or two of grease for each quarter, if they need more liquid use the leftover cooking water adding in a tbsp at a time.
Reheating or Freezing: You can eat these as soon as you are done with the above process or you can pack them away in the fridge and freezer to enjoy later. They keep in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days and freeze very well. Thaw before reheating. You can microwave them or stick them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a covered casserole dish to reheat.
If they are a bit dry you can add in water, milk or chicken/beef broth. Start out by adding a little and going from there.
The salt: When you taste these you might stop and think Oh my heck, these are bland. It's the salt factor. I didn't forget it. I just didn't tell you what to do with it. I can't tell you how much to add. I prefer mine saltier than Tim does. Rather than infuse the entire batch with my level of salty goodness I prefer to let everyone choose their own level. Beans are like mashed potatoes, everyone likes them how they like them.
Options: Onion, dice half of a medium onion and saute in bacon grease once bacon is fried. Work this into the beans at the same time as the cumin and bacon bits. Garlic, same as the onion.
Shortcuts: I don't always fry mine. I run out of time and things happen. Once your beans are mashed to your liking add in a tbsp or four of bacon grease (I can't get away from the stuff), bacon bits and cumin and mix well. That's it and sometimes much more time convenient but I don't think you can legally call them refried beans if you do it that way, either way they still taste yummy.
