Chef Lupita
Arroz Jarocho con Plátanos Fritos
Veracruz's Gulf-side white rice, toasted with garlic and onion, cooked until each grain stands apart, then crowned with ripe plátano macho fried in lard.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Stewed Black Beans (Frijoles a la Veracruzana)
Created by
Veracruz's black bean pot from the Gulf lowlands, simmered with epazote, finished in manteca with jitomate and chile chipotle meco, and served thick enough to hold a spoon.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•10 hr 50 min total
Yield6 to 8 servings as a side dish
Veracruz, especially the humid Gulf lowlands from the Sotavento to Los Tuxtlas, is black bean country. Not pinto. Not whatever bean is lying around. Frijol negro sits beside arroz blanco, yuca frita, platanos machos, fish a la veracruzana, and the weekday guisados that keep a house fed without making a performance of it.
The defining smell here is epazote in the olla, then jitomate and chile chipotle meco frying in manteca de cerdo. The women who taught me this in Tlacotalpan and San Andres Tuxtla did not drown the beans in tomato. They made a recado, fried it until the raw edge disappeared, then let the beans thicken slowly until the spoon dragged through the pot. That is the technique. No me vengas con atajos.
My mother was from Jalisco, so black beans were not her daily pot. In Veracruz I learned the spoon test: the beans must be creamy, glossy, and thick enough to hold their place on the plate next to plantain or fish. If the tomato is not ripe, wait or use good canned whole tomatoes. If the chile is burned, start again. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Beans were domesticated in Mesoamerica thousands of years before the conquest, and black beans remained especially important in the Gulf and southern kitchens where climate, soil, and trade favored them over the pinto bean of the north. The port of Veracruz, founded in 1519, became the Atlantic gate for Spanish ingredients and enslaved Africans, which is why the state's side dishes carry Indigenous beans and epazote beside the Afromestiza vocabulary of plantain, yuca, and malanga. Chipotle comes from the Nahuatl chilpoctli, meaning smoked chile, and in this dish its smoke is restrained by the tomato and bean rather than made into a separate table salsa.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried black beans (frijol negro)
Quantity
1 pound
picked over and rinsed
water
Quantity
enough for soaking, plus 8 cups for cooking
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
left in one piece for the bean pot
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
2 lightly crushed for the bean pot, 1 left whole for the sauce
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 large sprig, plus 1 tablespoon small leaves
sprig for cooking, leaves for finishing
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
dried chile chipotle meco
Quantity
1
stemmed and seeded
ripe Roma tomatoes (jitomate guaje)
Quantity
4 medium, about 1 pound
rinsed
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
small white onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
crumbled between your fingers
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
fried ripe plantain slices (optional)
Quantity
for serving
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried black beans (frijol negro)picked over and rinsed | 1 pound |
| water | enough for soaking, plus 8 cups for cooking |
| white onionleft in one piece for the bean pot | 1/2 medium |
| garlic cloves2 lightly crushed for the bean pot, 1 left whole for the sauce | 3 |
| fresh epazotesprig for cooking, leaves for finishing | 1 large sprig, plus 1 tablespoon small leaves |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| dried chile chipotle mecostemmed and seeded | 1 |
| ripe Roma tomatoes (jitomate guaje)rinsed | 4 medium, about 1 pound |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 3 tablespoons |
| small white onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| dried Mexican oreganocrumbled between your fingers | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| fried ripe plantain slices (optional) | for serving |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Clay olla de barro or heavy 4-quart pot for cooking the beans
- •Cast iron comal for toasting the chile and roasting the jitomate
- •Blender for the jitomate and chipotle recado
- •Wide clay cazuela and wooden spoon for the final stew
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
The night before, put the black beans in a bowl and cover them with water by three inches. Pick through them with your fingers first. Market beans sometimes carry tiny stones, and the stone always finds the cook who thinks this step is optional. Soak 8 to 12 hours. If your kitchen is hot, put the bowl in the refrigerator. Veracruz humidity is not gentle.
- 2
Cook the bean pot
Drain the beans and put them in a clay olla or heavy pot with 8 cups fresh water, the half onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, and the large sprig of epazote. Bring to a steady simmer, then lower the heat and cover partially. Cook until the beans are tender but still holding their shape, usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours. After the first hour, when the skins have softened, add the salt. Do not add tomato yet. Acid tightens bean skins, and then you stand there wondering why your beans refuse to become food.
Old beans take longer. That is not your fault, but it is your responsibility. Buy from a busy mercado stall where the sacks turn over quickly. - 3
Toast and roast
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile chipotle meco for a few seconds per side, just until it smells smoky and deep. Do not blacken it. Put it in a small bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. On the same comal, roast the jitomates and the remaining garlic clove until the tomato skins blister and the flesh starts to collapse. Blend the roasted jitomates, roasted garlic, softened chipotle, and 1/2 cup of the bean broth until smooth.
- 4
Fry the recado
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and cook until soft and just starting to turn gold at the edges. Pour in the blended jitomate and chipotle mixture. It will sputter. Cook, stirring often, for 10 to 12 minutes, until the sauce turns brick-red, thickens, and the lard begins to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Oil will cook the onion. Lard carries the chile and tomato into the beans.
- 5
Braise the beans
Remove and discard the onion piece, garlic, and cooked epazote sprig from the bean pot. Add the cooked beans and 3 cups of their broth to the fried recado. Mash about 1 cup of beans against the side of the cazuela with a wooden spoon, then stir them back in. Simmer uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the broth is glossy and thick enough to coat the spoon. These are stewed beans, not bean soup.
- 6
Finish with epazote
Stir in the small fresh epazote leaves, the dried Mexican oregano, and the black pepper. Taste for salt. Let the beans rest off the heat for 10 minutes before serving so the starch settles and the flavor rounds out. Epazote should speak clearly, not shout over the pot.
- 7
Serve Veracruz style
Serve from the cazuela or spoon into deep green Jalapa-style bowls. Put warm corn tortillas on the table, and if you want the Sotavento line, add platanos machos fritos beside the beans. No cheddar. No sour cream. No avocado scattered on top because someone saw it in central Mexico. This is Veracruz. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chef Tips
- •Buy frijol negro from a market stall with turnover. Beans should look glossy, not dusty and cracked. If the beans are old, they will cook eventually, but they will make you pay in time.
- •Chile chipotle meco is the dry, tan, smoke-heavy chipotle. If all you have is chipotle en adobo, use one small chile and one teaspoon of its adobo, then accept the vinegar and sugar it brings. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Use manteca de cerdo for the recado. This is the Veracruz hand with refritos, yuca frita, and platanos fritos. Vegetable oil will keep the pot edible. It will not give the same body.
- •Canned black beans are emergency food here. If you must use them, use three 15-ounce cans, rinse them, and simmer them with epazote and water for 20 minutes before adding them to the recado. Do not pretend it is the same dish.
- •The beans should be thick but not dry. If they tighten too much while resting, loosen them with hot bean broth or water, one ladle at a time.
Advance Preparation
- •Start the beans the night before. The soak is not decoration, it gives you a more even pot and a shorter cook.
- •The beans can be cooked in their broth up to 3 days ahead. Refrigerate them with enough broth to cover so the skins do not dry out.
- •The finished stewed beans keep 4 days in the refrigerator. Reheat slowly with a splash of bean broth or water and stir from the bottom so the starch does not scorch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 260g)
Calories
320 calories
Total Fat
7 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
5 mg
Sodium
600 mg
Total Carbohydrates
53 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
15 g
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