Refried Perfection

I love refried beans. Of late, I have been following The Homesick Texan's blog. She talks a lot about lard. She cooks a lot with lard. In fact, she raves about the stuff. As children, we were told lard was evil, terrible, it was horrible stuff. I remember the same said about butter, however, I also remember mothers, grandmothers etc. pooh poohing margarine when baking. Butter was the only way. Thanksgiving and Christmas were special in part because we got real butter on our spuds instead of margarine. The Homesick Texan was the first person I'd heard say, 'lard is good.' I was curious and the gods of lard were listening. On Friday, I stumbled on to the lard section in Tesco's. It was the perfect price too, 30 cent a go.
Authentic refried beans are supposed to be made with lard. I have been searching for the perfect refried recipe for literally years. Until today I had never made beans with lard. I've used butter (yum) olive oil, sunflower oil, bacon fat and the list goes on. Truthfully, I enjoy butter the most. Pinto beans are quite neutral. Most beans seem to be. You can really taste the butter in the refried beans and I really like that. Vegan versions are very tasty too, oil can be substituted easily and the results are delicious. As far as lard is concerned, my partner loves beans fried in them. Lard seems to be neutral in flavor and I didn't feel that it lent the beans any special texture or flavor. They were really nice, but I still don't have my dream beans. This hasn't put me off lard though. I've only begun.

I don't have a definitive recipe for beans, like I said before. I'm going to write down the ingredients and if you wish to make these beans you'll have to do everything to your own taste, and the volume you require.

Ingredients

Dry pinto beans or whichever beans you prefer

1 tablespoon baking soda

Half an onion

Cumin

Garlic

Bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Soak your beans overnight in water and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Alternately, soak beans in water that has been brought to the boil plus 1 tablespoon of baking soda (then taken off the heat) for an hour. When you are ready to cook your beans rinse them thoroughly, or they will taste of baking soda. Fill a pot with water and your beans put on the hob uncovered with bay, garlic and half an onion. . DO NOT add salt to the pot!!!!!! Your beans will never get soft. Cook at med-med low for about an hour and then rinse beans again. Add new water to the pot. The amount depends on how done your beans are. If your beans are soft, just cover with water. If your beans are hard more water is needed. When your beans are soft and the water has mostly evaporated as pictured above mash the beans with a fork as little or as much as you would like. Toast your cumin and grind into a powder. Add the cumin, lard, salt and pepper to your beans to taste. Enjoy!!!!!!