Mesoamerica · Volume 01, The Highland Mole and Maize World
Tlayudas
San Antonio de la Cal, Central Valleys, Oaxaca
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 25 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Tlayudas
San Antonio de la Cal market stalls . Serves 2 . 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 large, hardened tortilla
- to taste asiento (unrefined pork lard)
- 100g black bean paste
- 50g quesillo
- ⅛ head cabbage, shredded
- 1 piece (tasajo, cecina or chorizo), per tlayuda meat, of choice
Method
- Spread the tortilla with asiento, black bean paste, quesillo, cabbage and a choice of meat.
- Fold and return briefly to the comal until the cheese melts and the tortilla crisps further at the edge.
What a modern chef changes
Dehydrated crispness, clarified asiento, live-fire finish
Rung 03
Method
- Dry the tortilla partially in a dehydrator before its final comal cook, for a more even, controllable crispness than relying on the comal alone to drive off all the remaining moisture.
- Render and clarify the asiento through a chinois for a cleaner pork fat with the same savoury base note but none of the sediment a rendered-at-home version usually carries.
- Finish the assembled tlayuda under a Big Green Egg's direct, very hot zone rather than a stovetop comal, closer to the wood-fired heat San Antonio de la Cal's stalls actually use than a home gas ring can manage.