Refried beans
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Refried beans (Spanish: frijoles refritos) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans and is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular in many other Latin countries.
Etymology
The name is based on a mistranslation: in Mexican Spanish, the prefix re- is an informal form of emphasis meaning "very" or "well", which has been confused with the English re-, which indicates repetition. Thus, frijoles refritos really means "well-fried beans", not "fried-again beans". In this dish, the beans are often fried (once), but may also be baked, thus making the term "refried" a misnomer on two counts.[1]
Ingredients and preparation
In northern Mexico and in American Tex-Mex cuisine, refried beans are usually prepared with pinto beans, but many other varieties of bean are used in other parts of Mexico, such as black or red beans. The raw beans can be cooked when dry or soaked overnight, then stewed, drained of most of the remaining liquid, and converted into a paste with a masher (such as a potato masher), or pressed through a fine mesh sieve (to remove the skins). Some of the drained liquid, or chicken or vegetable stock, is added if the consistency is too dry. The paste is then baked or fried with lard or vegetable oil and seasoned to taste with salt and spices.
Usage
In a home meal, refried beans typically serve as the main food accompanied by smaller, more strongly flavored dishes, but they may also be served as a side dish accompanying a larger meal, or rolled in a tortilla to form a bean burrito.
In the US, refried beans are most commonly made from pinto beans. They are served as a side dish with most Tex-Mex restaurant meals. They also have become very popular as a dip for corn tortilla chips. Refried beans are also a primary ingredient in many tostada, chimichanga, and pupusa recipes. In addition, they are a typical ingredient in layered dips, such as 7 layer dip or in [[nachos]).
See also
References
- ^ Rosengarten, David (2003). It's All American Food: The Best Recipes for More Than 400 New American Classics. Little, Brown and Company. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-316-05315-0.
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