Tutu de Feijão à Mineira

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-liter pot
• •Wide heavy skillet or 3-liter sauté pan
• •Blender or immersion blender
• •Wooden spoon
• •Pressure cooker, optional

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Pick over the beans, rinse them, and cover with plenty of cold water. Let them soak 8 to 12 hours, then drain and rinse before cooking. The soaking water already did its job: it helped the beans hydrate evenly so the centers and skins cook at the same pace, and it helps the pot sit easier later. Throw it out and start clean.

2. 2

   Cook until tender

   Put the drained beans in a heavy 4-liter pot with 6 cups fresh water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower to a calm simmer with the lid partly on. Cook until a bean crushes easily against the roof of your mouth, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, adding hot water if the beans peek above the liquid. Salt goes in only after they're tender, because tough skins are a boring argument to have with dinner. You need about 4 cups cooked beans and 2 cups caldo.

   Starting with cooked homemade beans? Use 4 cups cooked beans with about 2 cups of their caldo and skip straight to the refogado. That's the Tuesday shortcut I hand you myself.
3. 3

   Brown the pork

   Set a wide heavy skillet or 3-liter sauté pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until the fat melts and the cubes are golden at the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the sausage in one layer and dourar until browned on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes. If the pan is crowded, brown in two rounds; crowded meat releases water, drops the heat, and gives you grey, tired pieces instead of flavor. Scoop out a third for topping, if you like. If you're skipping pork, warm 3 tablespoons oil or lard and go straight to the onion.

4. 4

   Build the refogado

   Keep about 3 tablespoons fat in the pan, adding oil if the pan looks dry or spooning some off if it looks greasy. Add the onion with a pinch of the salt and cook, stirring now and then, until soft, shiny, and see-through, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute, just until you smell it. Burnt garlic is bitter and unforgiving, and it'll follow you through the whole pan. Add one ladle of cooked beans with caldo and mash it hard into the refogado; this glues the bean starch to the fat and aromatics, making a creamy base without any packet pretending to help.

5. 5

   Blend the beans

   Blend the remaining cooked beans with 1 1/2 cups of caldo until thick and mostly smooth, leaving a little texture if you like. Use short pulses and hold the lid firmly. It should pour like thick soup, not sit like cement; if it is too thick, add caldo by the 1/4 cup. The farinha still has to drink, so don't start dry.

   If the beans are very hot, blend in batches and leave the blender lid slightly vented under a folded towel. Hot beans expand fast, and cleaning the ceiling is not part of the recipe.
6. 6

   Find the ponto

   Pour the blended beans into the refogado and stir in the salt and black pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often, until glossy and bubbling thickly. Lower the heat and sprinkle in 1/2 cup farinha little by little with one hand while stirring with the other. Wait 1 minute before deciding to add more, because farinha keeps thickening after it hits the pan. Stop when the tutu pulls back from the spoon and a line dragged across the pan closes slowly. It should mound softly and still shine. Too little farinha and it runs; too much and you've built a wall. If it gets too stiff, loosen it with hot caldo or water.

7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Stir most of the browned bacon and sausage back into the tutu, saving a little for the top if you held some aside. Taste and correct the salt, then fold in the parsley or scallions. Spoon it into a warm serving dish and finish with the reserved browned pieces. Serve with arroz soltinho, couve, fried eggs, and torresmo. That's the everyday plate doing its work: beans, rice, something from the skillet, something green, and nobody hungry.

Chef Tips

• •Buy beans from a shop that sells through them quickly. Old beans stay stubborn no matter how much time you give them, and then you blame yourself instead of the bag. We are done blaming the cook for bad ingredients.
• •Use farinha de mandioca torrada, fine or medium, for the smoothest tutu. Coarse farinha works, but the texture becomes rougher and drinks caldo faster, so add it slowly and stop early.
• •No seasoning cube, no packet. If a powder can make every pot taste the same, it can also erase the onion, the garlic, the beans, and your hand. A real refogado is not difficult. It's dinner learning to speak.
• •Canned beans can save a hard Tuesday, but choose plain beans with a short ingredient list and keep some of the liquid. The cost is flavor and body, so use less farinha at first and let the pan tell you what it needs.
• •Tutu thickens as it cools. Reheat it with splashes of hot water or bean broth, stirring until glossy again. Don't slice it like a brick and call that tradition.
• •Make the full amount even if there are only two of you. Freeze the beans before adding farinha, or refrigerate finished tutu and loosen it when reheating. Batch cooking is not glamour. It's how a gente resolves dinner.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans should soak overnight, at least 8 hours and up to 12 hours, in plenty of cold water.
• •Cooked beans can be made up to 4 days ahead and refrigerated with their caldo, or frozen for up to 3 months. This is the best make-ahead point.
• •Finished tutu keeps 4 days in the fridge. Reheat gently with hot water or bean broth until it turns glossy and spoonable again.
• •For batch cooking, freeze cooked beans without farinha in 2-cup portions. Tutu comes together fast once the beans are ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 220g)