Hollys Favorite Refried Beans Recipes

Steps:

• Put the pinto beans in a bowl and cover with 2 inches of water. Soak for 8 hours to overnight.
• Transfer the beans to a medium saucepan and cover with water by about 1 inch. Add onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, celery seed, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and let cook for 1 1/2 hours.
• Use a colander to separate the liquid from the solids. Transfer the solids to a food processor with diced tomatoes, hot sauce, oregano, and cayenne. Blend to desired consistency.

Steps:

• First you need to soak the beans overnight in cold water. Then turn the stove on and slowly boil until the skins start to peel off the beans. I usually take a spoon full and blow on them.
• drain the beans
• Cut the salt pork into about 4 or 5 slices, and put in the bottom of the bean pot. Pour the beans in over the salt pork.
• In a saucepan put 3 cups of cold water. Add the mustard, molasses and brown sugar to the pan. Cook until hot and pour over the beans in the pot.
• Put the pot into the oven at 300 degrees and cook for about 8 hours. Depending on your oven, they might be done sooner than that. This is my bean pot that I got as a wedding gift 33 1/2 years ago.
• Periodically throughout the cooking process you will have to check the beans to make sure there is enough water. I leave a small pan on the stove and boil water before I add it to the beans. At the end of the cooking process I stop adding water because I want the liquid to be a bit thick. Also taste the beans at times to see how they are doing. You can tell when they're done.
• When my beans are done, I add more brown sugar. This is of course optional. Like I said above my family likes sweet beans. You can leave the beans on the stove with the cover on and they'll stay warm for quite awhile. You can also put them back in the oven to heat through again. Here is the finished product. They are perfectly browned, sweet and delicious. I make Annette's 7-up biscuits, which were delicious, and served them with the beans.

Steps:

• Soak beans in water to cover overnight.
• Drain off soaking water, and cover with the 3 quarts water.
• Bring the beans to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Cook until beans are soft and tender, at least a couple hours. Longer cooking time may be required depending on the freshness of your dried beans.
• With a potato masher, squish the beans until they become a soupy texture.
• Add the garlic, chicken base stock and the bacon fat. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add cayenne if desired.

Steps:

• In large pot soak the beans for at least 4 hours. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until soft.
• 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.
• Fry up the bacon slices in large cast iron skillet and set aside to drain on paper towel. Reserve drippings.
• Meanwhile, mince the onion and garlic.
• *Heat a cast iron skillet on medium and saute the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings or solid lard until soft.
• 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.
• 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.
• *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.
• Save the bean liquid to rehydrate and reheat any leftovers, but *DO NOT* use plain water to reheat the beans.

Steps:

• Lightly drain the beans, reserving the juice from the tin, but do not rinse (you want the beans in about half the liquid from the can). Depending on the texture you prefer, either mash them roughly in a bowl or blitz them using a blender until smooth. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan or casserole and cook the onions for 8-10 mins until soft and golden. Scatter in the garlic, chilli and cumin seeds, and sizzle everything for 2 mins more. Tip in the beans, oregano, paprika and a pinch of salt. Cook everything together for 5 mins until the beans have heated through adding more reserved bean juice if it's too thick. Serve straightaway with a sprinkling of coriander, if you like, or leave to cool and keep chilled. Will keep chilled for up to three days or frozen for a month. Reheat with a splash of water mixed in.