I traveled to Mexico City to get my second lesson in bean cookery, this time cowboy beans from chef Luis Alberto Llanos Legorreta who runs a cooking school dedicated to the culinary history of Mexico. The space, like many in Mexico City, is cavernous with a massive backdrop of gray tiles, a huge comal for tortillas and large earthenware cazuelas. It appears more factory than school.

My first lesson, a few years ago, was taught by Eduardo García, chef/owner of Máximo Bistrot. We cooked a pot of beans over a wood fire on one of the islands in the borough of Xochimilco and he surprised me with a useful technique—adding the briefly cooked sofrito at the end of cooking, not the beginning. Although García’s beans can be cooked with meat (he uses pork), cowboy beans are meat-centric with four different types of meat: chorizo, tocino, chicharrón prensado (pressed) and fried chicharrón. (Tocino is cured pork belly often sold in chunks.) The first problem was what to use back at Milk Street and our answer was chorizo sausage and bacon, then garnish (if you like) at the end with crushed chicharrones.

The “cowboy” in cowboy beans originated with the charros, or cowboys, who worked on the ranches of northern Mexico and threw together ingredients they had on hand. Pinto beans are commonly used but chef Llanos Legorreta made us a version with black beans. This was a looser, more soupy bean dish than my first lesson with García and offered a meatier foundation. The point is, like with many old school recipes, that this was not a recipe per se—it was simply an approach to cooking what was on hand.

As for the recipe itself, the beans do need to be soaked in salted water overnight. I have tested various quicker methods (bring to a boil and let soak for an hour) but none of them come close to the overnight soak. No shortcuts, please!

As the beans cook, get started on the flavor base, which includes chorizo, bacon, one chipotle chili in adobo, oregano, garlic and a pound of tomatoes. This sofrito is added to the beans for the last 30 minutes of cooking. Cilantro comes in just before serving and you can top with crushed chicharrones if you like, then serve with warm tortillas. This is one dish where making your own tortillas (it is super simple to do) is worth it but store-bought warmed up tortillas are fine. Keep in mind that corn tortillas in Mexico City are soft and fresh, so I opt for store-bought flour tortillas if I am not making my own. (Supermarket corn tortillas can be gnarly.)

Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."