Essential · 2 h 30 min plus 8–12 h of soaking · Serves 4

Charro bean tostadas with paprika chorizo

An Argentine version of charro beans designed from the start to be served on corn tostadas (fried tortillas). It keeps the bean, bacon, tomato, chile and cilantro, but accepts the smoky, spiced profile of the paprika chorizo (chorizo colorado) available locally. The result is dense, mildly spicy and with a visible fat that adds flavor without pooling on the tostada.

The texture is built with reduction and with a portion of mashed beans, not with flour or starch. The fried tostada resists moisture during the service time; the lime cream and the radish relieve the fat without turning the dish into a salad or covering the memory of the casserole.

Special equipment: kitchen thermometer recommended for the frying

Ingredients

Beans

• 250 g dry carioca, pinto or bayo beans
• Water for soaking, as needed
• 1.5 liters fresh water, plus hot water if needed
• 80 g white onion, in one piece
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• 6 g fine salt, plus more to adjust

Paprika chorizo and sofrito

• 120 g smoked pancetta, in 8–10 mm dice
• 140 g paprika chorizo (chorizo colorado), skinned and in 5–8 mm dice
• 150 g white onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 250 g ripe plum tomato or canned, chopped with its juices
• 25 g pickled jalapeño, drained and finely chopped
• 10 ml of the liquid from the pickled jalapeño
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 10 g tender cilantro stems and leaves, chopped separately
• 250–350 ml of the beans' cooking broth
• 10 ml lime juice or apple cider vinegar

Corn tostadas

• 8 corn tortillas of 12–14 cm
• 500 ml neutral oil for frying, working amount; it is not fully absorbed
• Fine salt, as needed

Fresh finish

• 100 g whole cream cheese
• 20 ml heavy cream
• 10 ml lime juice
• 2 radishes
• 1 lime, in wedges
• 5 g cilantro leaves
• Fine salt, as needed

Method

Beans

1. Soaking and cooking the beans. Check and rinse the beans. Cover them with at least three times their volume of water and soak 8 to 12 hours. Drain, discard that water and move to a pot with the 1.5 liters of fresh water, the piece of onion and the crushed garlic.
2. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and cook partly covered, at a barely perceptible simmer, between 1 hour 15 minutes and 2 hours. Add hot water if they stop being covered. When almost tender, add the 6 g of salt and cook 15–20 minutes more. The center should be creamy and the skin still whole.
3. Remove the onion. Set aside all the beans and at least 500 ml of their broth separately. The recipe uses 250 to 350 ml; the rest serves to correct the texture during reheating or can be frozen for another preparation.

Paprika chorizo and sofrito

1. Pancetta. Put the pancetta in a cold pan and bring to medium heat. Cook 7–9 minutes, until it releases fat and is golden, with the center still meaty. Remove about a quarter and set it on a rack for finishing.
2. Paprika chorizo. Add the chorizo to the same pan and cook 3–4 minutes, until it perfumes the fat and shows some toasted edges. Do not extend the browning: being cured or semi-cured, it can harden. Remove the excess fat and leave in the pan about 30 ml, equal to 2 tablespoons; that amount should be enough for an unctuous filling without making it oily.
3. Sofrito. Add the 150 g of onion and cook over medium heat 5 minutes, until soft and barely golden. Add the garlic, cilantro stems, jalapeño, cumin and oregano. Cook 30 seconds, only until the spices release aroma.
4. Add the tomato with its juices and the jalapeño liquid. Cook 8–10 minutes, stirring, to a concentrated, glossy sofrito: when the spoon is dragged, the bottom of the pan should show for a second, but the mixture should not dry out or stick.
5. Combining and binding. Add all the cooked beans and 250 ml of their broth. Mix and cook uncovered over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Mash about a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan and stir them back in. Continue the cooking 5–10 minutes, stirring more often as it thickens.
6. The right point is denser than a traditional casserole: a spoonful set on a plate should keep a low mound and not release an immediate halo of liquid. Even so, the whole beans should remain wrapped in a moist, glossy sauce. If it dries out before reaching that point, add reserved broth 30 ml at a time.
7. Remove from the heat. Add the cilantro leaves and the 10 ml of lime juice or vinegar. Taste before adjusting the salt: the pancetta, chorizo and pickle already bring plenty. Rest 10 minutes; the mixture will thicken a bit more as it cools.

Corn tostadas

1. Tostadas. Heat the oil in a deep pan or small pot to 170–175 °C (338–347 °F). Fry the tortillas one at a time for 30–45 seconds per side, keeping them submerged with tongs if they arch. Remove them when rigid, golden and they have stopped releasing large bubbles. Drain on a rack and salt lightly while still hot. Wait for them to cool before stacking.

Fresh finish

1. Lime cream and finishes. Mix the cream cheese with the heavy cream and the 10 ml of lime juice to a cream that falls slowly from the spoon. Salt lightly. Cut the radishes into thin slices and keep them cold. Separate the cilantro leaves, the lime wedges and the reserved crisp pancetta.
2. Check before assembly. Reheat the filling over low heat if needed. It should arrive hot and unctuous, not boiling or runny. If too firm, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of broth; if it releases liquid, reduce it 2–3 minutes before loading the tostadas.

The dish

Use light flat plates, at room temperature, so the tostadas do not sweat. Set two tostadas per person, slightly overlapping, and spoon onto each between 90 and 110 g of hot beans, in an irregular layer that leaves a 1 cm golden edge in view. Put a teaspoon of lime cream in the center and move it slightly with the back of the spoon so it does not cover the beans. Scatter over it the reserved crisp pancetta, two or three thin radish slices and a few cilantro leaves, and rest a lime wedge beside the tostadas. Assemble right before taking to the table and serve at once, before the filling softens the tortilla. Final look: golden tostadas, crisp at the edge, reddish, glossy beans with the chorizo in view, the white of the cream, the pink and white of the radish, the green of the cilantro and the lime on the side.

Key points

• Mash only a quarter of the beans: enough to bind, without turning the filling into a purée.
• Keep about 30 ml of rendered fat; more softens the tostada and covers the bean's flavor.
• Briefly brown the paprika chorizo so it releases aroma without turning dry or leathery.
• Fry the tortillas until the large bubbles stop and cool them on a rack to get sturdy tostadas.
• Adjust the density right before assembling and serve within the next 10 minutes.

Pairing

An Argentine red ale or an amber lager goes with the paprika of the chorizo and cleans the fat. As a non-alcoholic option, grapefruit soda with little sugar and a pinch of salt.

Notes

• The published heat is low to medium. To lower it, use 15 g of jalapeño without its liquid; to raise it, add up to 10 g more jalapeño to the sofrito.
• If corn tortillas are not available, it is better to make or buy them than to replace them with wheat tortillas: the latter behave differently when frying and change the dish.
• As an alternative to frying, brush the tortillas with oil on both sides, set them between two trays and bake at 190 °C (375 °F) for 8–12 minutes, turning them halfway. They turn out somewhat less sturdy and greasy than the main version.
• To store the filling, divide it into shallow containers, chill it immediately and refrigerate at 5 °C (41 °F) or below for up to 3 days. Reheat to at least 74 °C (165 °F) at the center and adjust with broth before serving.

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