Frijoles De La Olla - "pot" Beans

Submitted by Stephanie Y.

"Frijoles de olla are usually served with the broth in small earthenware bowls and scooped up with a tortilla or eaten with a spoon. You can top them with a bit or creamy cheese, chopped tomato, or a small amount of chile. They are even better the next day, and can be used for burritos or as a side to carne asada. From Diana Kennedy's Recipes from the Regional Cooks of Mexico."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 40mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• 453.59 g dried beans (black, pink, or pinto)
• 2365.9-2839.08 ml cold water (approximately)
• 0 medium onion, roughly sliced
• 29.58 ml pork fat (I use bacon drippings)
• 12.32 ml salt (to taste)
• 2 large sprigs epazote (if using black beans)

directions

1. Rinse the beans in cold water and make sure there are no small stones or dirt clumps. Put them in a pot and cover with cold water. Add the onion and lard and bring to a boil, then lower the flame and let the beans simmer, covered, unti they are just soft and the skins are breaking open - about 2 hours for black beans and 1 1/2 for other varieties. (The timing depends of the age of the beans, how long they have been stored, and on the efficiency of the pot in which you are cooking them.) Add the salt and continue cooking over a low flame for another hour, until the beans are completely soft and the broth thickish and soupy.
2. For black beans, add the epazote just before the end of the cooking time, as it tends to lose flavor if cooked for too long.