Refried Beans

Method

1. rest10 min
   cold water, optional overnight soak
   beans rinsed and covered — soaking shortens the simmer by roughly a third but changes nothing else; skip it if you have the afternoon. Discard any bean that floats, since it is hollow and will never soften
2. simmer105 min
   bare simmer, lid ajar
   beans + water + halved onion + smashed garlic + epazote, topping up with hot water so the beans stay submerged. Add the salt once they are just tender — salt early is harmless, but any acid at all (tomato, lime, vinegar) sets the skins and they will stay chalky no matter how long you cook them. Done means a bean crushes to paste against the roof of your mouth with no grit
3. prep2 min
   off heat
   fish out the onion halves and garlic, then reserve at least 1.5 cups of the cooking liquid = bean broth. This cloudy starch is the whole sauce; plain water added later will loosen the mash without ever thickening it back
4. saute6 min
   medium, until the fat shimmers
   lard + diced onion + jalapeño + cumin, until the onion is translucent and beginning to color at the edges — the lard has to be hot and the onion cooked through before the beans go in, because nothing sautés once the pan is full of wet starch
5. mash8 min
   medium, stirring
   + beans lifted in with a slotted spoon + a splash of bean broth, crushing against the pan bottom with a masher or the back of a spoon. Mash while the beans are wet, not after they dry out, or the starch tears into a gluey paste instead of a purée. Leave a quarter of them whole for texture
6. fry10 min
   medium, stirring often
   beans + bean broth added a few tablespoons at a time, until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a trail that closes slowly. This is the refry: the water leaves, the starch and lard bind, and the flavor concentrates. Pull them looser than you want to serve them — they stiffen noticeably as they cool, and reheating needs another splash of broth
7. top1 min
   + cotija crumbled over the top