Refried Beans (Frijoles Refritos)

Original recipe by: Leslie Brenner

AQ Pittman, executive chef at José — a wonderful restaurant in Dallas specializing in the cooking of Guadalajara — makes some of the best refried beans in Dallas (a city that boasts some of the country’s best refried beans!), so I went to her for advice about making Tex-Mex favorite dishes at home.

I asked for her secret. “There’s really no secret,” she said. “It’s manteca.” Pork fat, that is.

At the restaurant, they use the fat that renders out when they make carnitas to sauté white onion, then they add beans that were cooked the previous day with a little onion and garlic, and left to cool in their cooking liquid. (Known as frijoles de olla, at that point, they are inexplicably delicious already.)

But it’s actually not as simple as AQ makes it out to be. Once the onion is soft, you add the beans, heating them in the fat. Once they’re hot, mash them with a potato masher. Keep mashing, add…