Tata is teaching me to make frijoles.
As a kid, Jesse ate tortillas and beans every day. When his mother was ready to make a new pot of beans, she would sit the children at the table each with a cup of dried beans, which they were to examine carefully for rocks and bad beans. Of course, no one can make beans that taste as good as Senora Zuniga's.
Ingredients
2 c dried pinto beans (overflowing)
6 c. cold water1/2 c Wesson oil (or lard)
6 slices chopped bacon
salt
garlic
As a kid, Jesse ate tortillas and beans every day. When his mother was ready to make a new pot of beans, she would sit the children at the table each with a cup of dried beans, which they were to examine carefully for rocks and bad beans. Of course, no one can make beans that taste as good as Senora Zuniga's.
Ingredients
2 c dried pinto beans (overflowing)
6 c. cold water1/2 c Wesson oil (or lard)
6 slices chopped bacon
salt
garlic
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
Method1. Sort and pick over the beans a few at a time. Biting down on a piece of rock can break your teeth and ruin your fillings. Put the beans in a colander and rinse. "They tend to be dusty," Jesse says.
2. Put rinsed beans in crock pot and add water and chopped bacon, oil, salt and garlic. Senora Zuniga did not use an electric crock pot, of course, as she cooked on a wood burning stove, but a crock pot works.
3. Turn on low for about six to eight hours, or over night.
4. Add more water when beans have absorbed the first six cups. Use HOT water, two to three cups.
5. Cook to the consistency you like. "I like my beans soupy and soft," Jesse says. "My father liked to check them by squeezing a bean between his fingers, and if it shot out across the room, that was perfect. We kids loved that. Other people like their frijoles drier and mashed. Beans are good for any meal, even breakfast with tortillas. The bacon gives them a good flavor."
2. Put rinsed beans in crock pot and add water and chopped bacon, oil, salt and garlic. Senora Zuniga did not use an electric crock pot, of course, as she cooked on a wood burning stove, but a crock pot works.
3. Turn on low for about six to eight hours, or over night.
4. Add more water when beans have absorbed the first six cups. Use HOT water, two to three cups.
"Adding cold water will turn the beans black, which is okay for me, but a lot of people don't like that," Jesse says. "If you get dark pinto beans at a restaurant it will be because the cook didn't know any better and added cold water."
5. Cook to the consistency you like. "I like my beans soupy and soft," Jesse says. "My father liked to check them by squeezing a bean between his fingers, and if it shot out across the room, that was perfect. We kids loved that. Other people like their frijoles drier and mashed. Beans are good for any meal, even breakfast with tortillas. The bacon gives them a good flavor."
Sra. Zuniga ground the corn on the stone matate we have sitting on the fireplace. She slapped and patted the masa dough thin, and the children baked the tortillas on a hot griddle. "Be careful," was her advice. "Papa does not like his tortillas burned!"
You can get fresh made tortillas at several tortillerias around Longmont. I buy my tortillas ready made and the grocery store and heat them one at a time on the burner of my electric stove, which gives a better taste and consistency than heating in the microwave.) Tata doesn't like his tortillas burned, either.
Serve with salsa and, if you like, finely grated cheese.