Black Beans with Mexican Beer Recipe
Making a blended seasoning paste to add to the beans is a great way to punch up the flavor.
What to buy: We liked this recipe made with Dos Equis beer, but any lager will work. Just don’t use really dark beer.
Game plan: Be sure to soak the beans the night before you plan on making the dish. Also note that there are two steps to cooking the beans: First they are simmered until tender, then they’re cooked with the spice paste to add flavor.
This recipe was featured as part of our Build Your Own Burrito Bar menu.
- 1 pound (about 2 1/2 cups) dried black beans
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and halved
- 1 small celery stalk, halved crosswise
- 1 small carrot, peeled and halved crosswise
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 dried ancho chiles
- 1 tablespoon whole dried cumin seed
- 1 teaspoon whole dried coriander seed
- 1 serrano pepper, coarsely chopped
- 1 ripe medium tomato, coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 (12-ounce) bottle Mexican beer, such as Dos Equis
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- Juice of 1 lime
- Pour the dried beans onto a rimmed baking sheet and pick through them, removing and discarding any broken beans or stones. Place the beans in a large nonreactive bowl and cover them with at least 3 inches of cold water. Allow to soak overnight or at least 8 hours.
- After the beans have soaked, drain in a colander. Place in a large heavy pot and cover with at least 2 inches of cold water. Place one half of the onion, the two celery and carrot halves, the garlic cloves, and the bay leaves in the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer until the beans are almost completely tender but still a little starchy in the center, about 30 minutes. (The beans should not be completely done, as they will cook more later.)
- While the beans are cooking, remove the stems from the ancho chiles, slit them open, and shake out the seeds. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Place the chiles in the skillet and toast until slightly charred and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and cover with very hot water; allow to soak for at least 15 minutes, or until they are soft and pliable.
- While the chiles soak, return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and lightly toast until fragrant, about 20 to 30 seconds. Transfer to a blender; set aside.
- When the ancho chiles are ready, remove them from the soaking water (discard the water) and coarsely chop. Coarsely chop the remaining onion half and add it to the blender along with the chopped chiles, serrano pepper, tomato, oregano, 1/4 cup of the beer, and the measured salt. Blend into a smooth purée; set aside.
- Drain the beans and discard the onion, celery, carrot, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Place about 1 cup of the cooked beans in a small bowl. Use a large spoon or the back of a fork to coarsely crush them.
- Return the large heavy pot to the stove and heat the oil over medium-high heat until smoking. Add the puréed mixture and fry it, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Mix in the crushed and whole beans and the remaining beer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans uncovered for 20 minutes. Stir in the chopped cilantro and lime juice. Season with salt and serve.
It was great. If you want to reduce the bean cook time then just use a pressure cooker.
hey everyone, thanks for the comments. We revisited this recipe and tightened it up a bit (did not change any ingredients, though) to make it simpler to follow and prepare. Although some thought the beans would not cook in this time given, when retested, we found they did. Perhaps the variety and freshness comes into play? They may just need to be cooked a bit more in step #2. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen
This was great. I would make this again. I have to agree with pkfinn as the recipe was a bit fussy, I deleted a few steps. Once the beans were soaked and drained I added the chili paste along with the oil and cooked that for a few minutes. Then I added back the beans, stock, chili pepper water and beer and simmered all day long. Yeah, these won't cook in a hour.
I would add chorrizo and pork belly to this along with some okra.
yeah-agree with pkfinn- there is no WAY those beans will be cooked within an hour, even if soaked overnight. REading the recipe through now, it's not as daunting as those 10 steps look, and I'd say, if you can't get dried ancho (or don't want to bother) get canned chipotles in adobo and use one of those instead, in which case for the most part, you are just throwing your seasoning mix in the blended with some beer. Eat_Nopal also suggested Flor de Mayo beans (if you can get them, not in Canada where I am from) which would be likely fresher than black. Those black beans can be cooked for 3 hours and still like little pebbles. Or hey, use canned and skip the first few steps...
I was VERY disappointed in this recipe. It demanded a lot of work--an awful lot. Not only finding the ingredients cited here, but there's a lot of prep (cutting, dicing, roasting, toasting, pureeing, etc). And the beans need to be soaked for a LOT longer than eight to nine hours. After soaking the beans, simmering the beans, and letting them sit overnite on top of soaking them eight hours during the day, the beans were still too hard. This recipe called for about two days of work for a product that wasn't outstanding. Sigh. I was disappointed.
First off... good job for posting a recipe for Frijoles Borrachos... which rarely find their way North of the Border. I would consider using Flor de Mayo or Mayocoba beans... for a creamier & fresher result (specialty beans are rarely more than 1 or 2 years old... while black or pintos can be in the system for up to 10 years). A dark lager adds a nice amount of maltiness & chocolate. There is no reason not to use a lighter beer... it will just have a different focus... and you might have to adjust the other flavorings. Ancient versions of this dish were made with pulque, chicha, tepache & even xtabantun... proving the dish can be successful with a variety of fermented products. For some intriguing flavors you might also consider adding Epazote, Hoja Santa or Avocado Leaves.
Yow! Check the foto, yo. Metal spoons on enameled crockery? Big mistake. That mighta worked back in the day, but all the Chinese-made enameled ironware is damned fragile. Go with wood or plastic or not at all. Unless you want to scrape the bejebus out of your cookware.
I can respect making a vegetarian friendly version of frijoles borrachos, but if no vegetarians are present, don't skimp out on the salt pork. :) Where I am from, we use pintos instead of black beans add salt pork or bacon, and omit the carrots and celery. I'll definitely have to give this version a try.
What qualities does the beer specifically add, and why would it not matter if you added, say, an extremely light Corona instead of the maltier Dos Equis Amber? Thanks, Jim
Glad you liked it. If you want more sweetness, cook the puree longer and over lower heat before adding the beans back in. Since it contains onions and tomatoes--two ingredients that lend perfectly to caramelization, you should get the sweeter result you're after.
I liked it; It looked great, was aromatic, and was a meal with white rice and a bottle of beer. Only thing I think it could use is a little sweetness -- maybe some carmelized onions?