Never Boil Your Beans Again | Try This Old Mexican Trick Instead

#beans #mexicanfood #frijoles #beans #mexicanfood #frijoles Mija, look at this pot with me. Two hours at a rolling boil, and half the beans burst open with their skins floating on top, while the other half still squeak against your teeth. Same pot, same afternoon. It wasn't you. That big boil is the whole reason. My mother never boiled a pot of beans hard in her life, and at number one I'll show you how she knew the minute they were done, with nothing but a spoon and her own breath. ⭐ FRIJOLES DE OLLA, MY MOTHER'S POT - 1 lb (one bag) dried pinto or black beans, from a store that goes through a LOT of them - For the soak: 1½ tbsp salt stirred into 2 quarts cool water, 8 to 12 hours - Fresh water to cover past your second knuckle, plus a small saucepan of HOT water on the back burner - ½ white onion, left in one piece - 4 cloves garlic, smashed - 1 heaping spoonful manteca (lard), or bacon drippings - 1 tsp salt in the pot, the rest at the end, to taste - NO tomato, salsa, lime or vinegar until every bean is soft ⭐ THE 5, COUNTING DOWN 5. THE NIGHT BEFORE: an old bag never fully softens, and that's not your stove. Buy where beans sell fast: bright, smooth, even, no broken halves in the corner. Spread them on a sheet pan and feel for the pebble. Then soak them in SALTED water. Salt in the soak softens the skin, it doesn't toughen it. Drain and rinse in the morning. 4. THE POT AND THE WATER: a heavy pot (clay, a Dutch oven or a good stockpot; the weight matters more than the material). Water past your second knuckle. Top up ONLY from the hot saucepan, because a cup of cold water knocks the pot off its simmer for about 10 minutes. Onion, garlic, manteca and a little salt go in with the beans. No cumin, no chili powder, no packet. 3. WHAT WAITS: nothing sour until the beans are soft, because acid keeps the skins closed tight. Tomatoes and bacon go into charros at the end; lime gets squeezed at the table. And put the spoon down: lid on a little crooked, one slow swirl by the handles if you must, check the water every half hour. 2. THE FIRE: boil ONCE, then turn it down until the water shivers, not dances. A gentle simmer is only a little cooler than a boil and cooks just about as fast; the boil only tears the skins. About 1½ hours for soaked pintos, 2½ to 3 for older or unsoaked beans. 1. THE SPOON AND THE SKIN: lift 3 or 4 beans, blow across the spoon, and watch. If the skins wrinkle and curl back, they're done. Tight and shiny, give them 15 more minutes. Then check one bean from the top, one from the middle, one from the bottom: creamy, no dry center. Finish the salt, fire off, and let them rest 30 minutes in their broth. Never pour the caldo out. ⚠️ SAFETY, HONESTLY - Red kidney beans: a full, hard 10-minute boil first. Never put raw dried kidney beans in a slow cooker; it doesn't get hot enough. - An old clay pot from a flea market or somebody's cupboard gets a lead test before it cooks anything. - Leftovers go into the refrigerator within 2 hours, in shallow containers. 3 to 4 days in the fridge, a few months in the freezer, packed in their broth with an inch of room at the top. NOTHING GOES TO WASTE: whatever's left at the end of the week goes into a hot skillet with a spoonful of manteca. Refritos for breakfast. I'm not selling you anything here. No can, no mix, no pot. Just the way my mother did it, written down so it doesn't get lost. If your beans came out half mush and half stone all these years, it wasn't you. It was a fire nobody ever told you to turn down. Tell me in the comments where your family's from, and which one gave you the most grief: the beans still hard when everybody's already sitting down, the mush with the skins floating on top, or the broth that tastes like nothing. I read every single one. #cookingtips #kitchenhacks #mexicancooking