Well-Fried Pinto Beans | TASTE

Heat a 10-inch stainless steel pan with sloped sides over medium heat. Once hot, add the lard or olive oil. Once the fat is melted, hot, and shimmery, add the onion with ½ teaspoon sea salt. With a flat-edged wooden spoon, mix the salt into the onions and cloak the onions with fat. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat up to high and mash the beans in batches by first adding 1 cup beans and their liquid to the onions, reserving the remaining beans and liquid mixture to add after. With a perforated potato masher, start mashing beans, liquid, and onions by making short punching movements and circular grinds. Keep mashing like this until the beans are about 70 percent broken down, creamy, and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides down in the pan, and then add the remaining beans and liquid (there will be more liquid than beans). Keep mashing vigorously while the beans bubble, becoming creamier and more homogenized as you mash. Keep mashing until you feel like you’ve gotten to a point your masher can do no more and only a blender could get it smoother—about 10 minutes of mashing. Once you’re done mashing, keep cooking over a high heat, scraping down the sides with the flat-edged spoon. Start scraping toward the center like you would an omelet. Keep doing this until the mash has thickened and it holds its own shape, about 10 minutes longer. At this point, turn down the heat to medium, and keep scraping the bean mash toward itself on all sides. Once the bean mash is very thick, able to hold its shape tightly and slide around in the pan if you shake it, scrape the mash onto one side of the pan and flush with the side. Cook like this for about 2 minutes to develop a crispy bottom (soon to be top) edge. Turn off the heat and gently slide the well-fried pinto beans so the bottom side is now the top. Serve warm with wedges of lime, queso fresco, cilantro, and optional warmed corn tortillas.