Plátanos Fritos al Estilo Oaxaqueño

This is Oaxaca. Not the Caribbean version with cinnamon and brown sugar, not the Central American version served as a starchy side, the Oaxacan version: thick slices of black-ripe plantain fried in pork lard, salted while they are still hot, and set on the table next to frijoles negros and queso fresco. It is a daily food in the Valles Centrales. Comida diaria. The kind of plate that shows up at breakfast, at the comida, and at the cena, in homes from Tlacolula to Etla.

The plantain has to be black. Not yellow, not yellow with a few spots, black. The sugars do not develop until the skin has gone almost completely dark, and without those sugars there is no caramelization, no jammy center, no reason to make this dish. If your plantains are still firm at the market, buy them anyway and leave them on the counter for three or four days. The plantain ripens on its own time, not yours.

Lard is not negotiable here. The Oaxacan kitchen runs on manteca de cerdo and the platanos fritos are no exception. Lard browns the edges in a way oil cannot, and it gives the slices a savory base that holds up against the sweetness of the fruit. La manteca es el sabor. My mother was from Jalisco, not Oaxaca, but she had a page in her notebook from a senora she met in the Mercado Benito Juarez in Oaxaca city, and the note in the margin said only: 'manteca, sal, plato.' Three words. That was the recipe. Cada estado, su propia cocina.