Frijoles de la Olla con Epazote

Ciudad de Mexico, Valle de Mexico. This pot belongs to the central highlands, to the markets of La Merced and Jamaica, where the bean sacks sit open and the epazote is tied in rough green bundles. Frijoles de la olla are not a side dish pretending to be important. They are the table's foundation.

Use frijol bayo or flor de mayo for this version. Black beans have their serious place in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and the Yucatan Peninsula, but in many central Mexican homes the bayo bean is the daily bean: thin-skinned, creamy, generous with its broth. The epazote is not decoration. It perfumes the pot and keeps the beans from tasting flat. Add it late so it stays alive.

I learned this pot from my mother in Colonia Roma, but I understood it at La Merced, watching señoras test beans by biting one dry bean between their teeth and telling the vendor, without apology, whether his stock was old. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina. A bean pot teaches patience, thrift, and judgment. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.