Frijoles para Gorditas — Hidalgo

A deeply savory bean filling from Hidalgo state, built on flor de mayo or pinto beans enriched with ground anise and a strained guajillo chile sauce. The defining moment is the final skillet reduction, where the bean-and-chile mixture is stirred continuously until it turns glossy and pulls together into a cohesive, thickened mass ready to stuff gorditas. Diana Kennedy recorded this preparation in My Mexico as a regional expression of how beans move beyond the pot and into a specific culinary role — the filling — through a secondary cooking that transforms texture and concentrates flavor.

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