Molly's Refried Beans

Total Time: 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 -3 cups dried pink beans or 2 -3 cups dried pinto beans or 2 -3 cups dried black beans
• water, for soaking
• 3 -4 slices bacon, crisply cooked or 1/4 cup solid lard
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup finely minced onion
• oil (for frying)
• salt

Recipe

• 1 in large pot soak the beans for at least 4 hours. bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until soft.
• 2 if necessary, add more water as needed so that the beans do not dry out while cooking. once beans are cooked, drain beans but *reserve* liquid.
• 3 fry up the bacon slices in large cast iron skillet and set aside to drain on paper towel. reserve drippings.
• 4 meanwhile, mince the onion and garlic.
• 5 *heat a cast iron skillet on medium and saute the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings or solid lard until soft.
• 6 with slotted spoon, transfer the cooked beans to the skillet. lower temperature to low-medium. add about a cup of the bean liquid and mix in the beans with the onion and garlic. begin to mash the beans with a potato masher, adding more bean liquid as necessary to facilitate. great grandma prepared these beans soupy with about 3/4 of the beans mashed, the remaining left whole. that is how great-grandma cooked them and that is how i like them. keep mashing beans and adding liquid until soupy and not dry. lower heat to simmer. do not allow beans to dry out, adding more bean liquid if needed.
• 7 crumble the bacon and stir into the beans. season with salt. taste and reseason with more salt if necessary. beans seems to require a good amount of salt to bring out their flavor.
• 8 *note: if you choose to use a cast iron skillet be warned that the iron content will turn lighter colored beans an unattractive pinkish-grey color. this will not affect the taste at all other than adding a bit of extra iron to your diet. if preferred, cook beans in a non-reactive pot.
• 9 save the bean liquid to rehydrate and reheat any leftovers, but *do not* use plain water to reheat the beans.