Burro de Machaca Sonorense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy molcajete or meat mallet for pounding the machaca
• •Dry cast iron comal, 12-inch minimum
• •Wooden rolling pin (palote) for the tortillas
• •Wide cast iron or heavy skillet for the guiso
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the tortilla dough

   In a wide bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. Cut in the lard with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour in the warm water and bring it together with one hand. Turn it onto the counter and knead for eight minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and gives back when you press it. Cover with a clean cloth and rest for 30 minutes. The lard and the rest are what make a Sonoran tortilla. Without them you have a tortilla; with them you have a tortilla sonorense.

   Manteca, not vegetable shortening. The flour tortilla del norte gets its flavor and its fold from pork lard. La manteca es el sabor and Sonora knows it.
2. 2

   Pound the machaca

   While the dough rests, place the dried beef in a molcajete or on a thick cutting board. Pound it with the tejolote, a meat mallet, or the bottom of a heavy skillet until the strands break apart into fine, almost fluffy threads. Real machaca is dried hard. The pounding is not optional. It is the step that gave the dish its name, from machacar, to pound. Skip it and you will be chewing leather.

3. 3

   Prepare the chile colorado

   Toast the dried chile colorado on a dry comal over medium heat for about 20 seconds per side, until fragrant. Soak in the hot water for 15 minutes, until soft. Transfer to a blender with the soaking liquid and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the skins. You want a clean red puree. This is the chile that gives the burro its color and the depth that separates a real machaca guisada from a sad scramble.

4. 4

   Roll the tortillas

   Divide the rested dough into six equal balls. Cover with the cloth so they do not dry out. On a lightly floured counter, roll each ball into a thin round about 10 to 12 inches across. The Sonoran tortilla is paper-thin. You should almost see the counter through it. Stretch with your hands at the end if you need to. Stack them with sheets of parchment between each one and keep them covered.

   If your tortilla looks like a thick disc, you have not stretched it enough. The sobaquera tradition in Sonora gets its name from being draped over the cook's forearm to thin it. You do not need to go that far, but think large and thin, not small and puffy.
5. 5

   Cook the tortillas

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-high until very hot. Cook each tortilla for about 30 seconds on the first side, until it bubbles and the underside shows light brown spots. Flip and cook 30 seconds more. The tortilla should still be soft and pliable, never crisp. Stack them in a clean cloth as you go. They steam each other and stay supple. A burro made with a brittle tortilla cracks the second you fold it.

6. 6

   Build the guiso

   Heat the lard in a wide cast iron or heavy skillet over medium. Add the onion and cook five minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Stir in the chopped tomato and the roasted Anaheim. Cook another five minutes, until the tomato breaks down and the mixture pulls away from the pan. This is the base. In Sonora they call it a sofrito norteno, and it carries the dish.

7. 7

   Add the machaca and chile

   Stir the pounded machaca into the sofrito. The dried beef will drink up the moisture from the tomato. Pour in the strained chile colorado puree, the oregano, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Cook over medium-low for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is moist but not wet. The machaca should be tender, the chile should have darkened, and the lard should glisten at the edges of the pan. Taste for salt. Machaca is already salty from the curing, so go easy.

8. 8

   Roll the burros

   Warm a tortilla briefly on the comal so it is supple. Lay it flat. Spoon about half a cup of the machaca guisada in a line down the center, leaving two inches clear at the bottom and on each side. Fold the bottom up over the filling. Fold both sides in. Roll up and away from you, tight. A Sonoran burro is rolled tight and slim, not stuffed like a football. The tortilla does most of the work. The filling is the seasoning.

9. 9

   Finish on the comal

   Place each rolled burro seam-side down on the hot dry comal for about a minute per side, until the tortilla picks up a few brown spots and the seam seals shut. This is how they serve them at the carretas outside Hermosillo. Eat them with salsa de chiltepin, pickled jalapenos, and a squeeze of lime. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Real machaca is dried beef, not the wet shredded beef sold in some Mexican markets in the United States as 'machaca.' Look for carne seca or machaca norteno at a Mexican carniceria. If you can only find the moist version, it will work, but you are eating ropa vieja in a Sonoran costume.
• •The chile colorado of the north is what other regions call chile California or a sweeter, milder cousin of guajillo. If your store sells only guajillo, use it and reduce it slightly. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Do not stuff the burro. A Sonoran burro is rolled tight and elegant. Half a cup of filling per tortilla is plenty. The tortilla and the guiso are equal partners. The Mission burrito is a different dish from a different country.

Advance Preparation

• •The machaca guisada can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat in a skillet with a teaspoon of lard before rolling the burros.
• •The tortilla dough can rest up to two hours at room temperature, covered. After that, refrigerate up to one day and bring back to room temperature before rolling.
• •Cooked tortillas keep wrapped in a clean cloth at room temperature for several hours, or frozen between sheets of parchment for up to a month. Reheat on a dry comal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 180g)