Frijoles Rojo

The refried beans served in Honduras are even better than the refried beans served in my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants. I almost feel like a traitor, saying that, but it's true. In much of Central America, they use red beans, not pinto beans. And sometimes they throw in a little sausage. I could live on them.

So Elizabeth, one of my students who has accompanied me to Honduras twice now, bought me a bag of red beans at Fiesta in Houston. I procrastinated cooking them for about a year because I really didn't know how. But a few Saturdays ago, I finally looked up a recipe on the Internet and dove into the process gringo style.

First you have to sort the beans and make sure there aren't any rocks or dirt clods mixed in with the beans. I didn't find any, but that's what the Internet said. Who am I to argue with Al Gore?

Then you have to wash them. Then you put them in a pot of water and let them soak overnight. The beans swell up and absorb the water which makes them soft. In the morning, drain them and put in fresh water and boil them for a while. I don't remember how long. But you really don't care do you? I mean, if you want to cook beans are you going to come read this post? I don't think so. You're going to use a cook book or a recipe website. I mean, you're probably just looking at the pictures anyway, so why am I even writing this stuff?

They were really soupy at first, but I kept cooking them until they got to the right consistency. I put in some cream cheese as an experiment too. I also put in a bit more salt than I should have.

Ready to serve.

Ryan came over so I made him eat some. He said they were too salty. So I ran into the other room and cried in Spanish.