Refried beans aren’t refried. July 7, 2013Posted by ourfriendben in recipes, wit and wisdom.
Tags: fallacy of name refried beans, refried beans, refried beans aren't refried
Silence Dogood here. The other day, I was making refried beans. Our friend Ben asked me why you’d refry beans instead of just frying them once. It’s a good question, and the answer is, “You don’t.”
Say what? “Refried beans” is a mistranslation of the Spanish frijoles refritos. Frijoles means beans, fritos means fried, so refritos must mean refried, right?
Wrong. Refritos means well-fried, not twice-fried. “Refried” beans are cooked twice—first in water or broth, to soften the beans, and second to fry them up in (shriek) lard or oil—but they’re not fried twice.
Just so you know.
‘Til next time,