Pan Francés con Frijol Colado y Queso
Desayunos Fuertes: Weekend Mornings at Home
Drag a wooden spoon through the dark puree until the bottom of the heavy cast-iron skillet shows, the kitchen smelling of sharp coffee, the morning kicking off once leftover beans are pureed, meticulously strained, and fried in lard scented with a blistering, unpunctured habanero. Smeared over a toasted baguette until the crust shatters, buried under salty queso fresco and a mountain of nutty Edam cheese—a beautiful remnant of 19th-century trade routes—this is unassuming, velvety luxury. Eat it while the coffee is still too hot to drink.
Ingredients
- cooked black beans and their liquid4 cup
- pork lard3 tbsp
- white onion1/4 med
- fresh habanero pepper1 whole
- fresh epazote1 large sprig
- soft French bread rolls4 small
- Edam cheese1 1/2 cup
- butter1 tbsp
- sea saltto taste
Method
- 01
Process the beans and their cooking liquid in a blender until completely smooth.
If using canned beans, include the starchy liquid from the cans. Add a splash of broth or water if the blender seizes.
- 02
Pass the pureed beans through a fine-mesh strainer into a large mixing bowl.
Use the back of a ladle or spatula to force the liquid through, discarding the fibrous skins left behind. This extra step is non-negotiable for achieving the authentic, velvety texture of true Yucatecan frijoles colados.
- 03
Heat the lard in a heavy skillet over medium heat and blister the intact piece of onion and whole habanero pepper.
Fry them for 5 to 7 minutes to infuse the fat. Leaving the habanero unpunctured extracts its tropical aroma without releasing the scorching heat of its seeds.
- 04
Carefully pour the strained bean puree into the infused fat and add the epazote.
The puree will sputter as it hits the hot lard. Stir immediately to incorporate the fat into the beans. If using dried epazote instead of fresh, simply crumble it in.
- 05
Simmer and stir continuously until the beans reduce into a thick, glossy paste.
This takes 15 to 25 minutes. You will know they are ready when you drag a spoon across the skillet bottom and the beans take a second to flow back together. Taste for salt, then fish out and discard the onion, habanero, and epazote sprig.
- 06
Lightly butter the cut sides of the bread and toast them on a hot griddle until golden and crisp.
The bread should be toasted just enough to hold up to the wet beans while retaining a soft interior.
- 07
Slather the hot beans thickly over the toasted bread and cover with a mountain of grated Edam cheese.
The residual heat from the beans and bread will slightly melt the cheese. Serve immediately.
Notes
Sourcing the right bread is key to the texture.
An expensive, crusty artisan baguette is actually the wrong choice here. Look for standard, mass-produced soft French bread in your supermarket bakery aisle, or use a Mexican telera to mimic the authentic soft crumb.
Do not fear the whole habanero.
Kept completely intact, the pepper will not make the beans spicy. It merely perfumes the fat with its essential oils, delivering the exact aroma of a kitchen in Mérida.