Chanclas Poblanas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart pot for braising the pork
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide cazuela or heavy skillet for frying the salsa
• •Ladle for drowning the chanclas

Instructions

1. 1

   Braise the pork

   Place the pork shoulder in a heavy pot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the half onion, 3 garlic cloves, bay leaves, and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam in the first ten minutes. Lower the heat until the surface barely moves and cook for 90 minutes, until the pork shreds with a fork. Cold water and a slow simmer. No shortcuts. A boil clouds the broth and toughens the meat.

   Save two cups of the pork broth. You will need it to thin the salsa. The broth is half of what gives this dish its depth.
2. 2

   Lightly pickle the onions

   While the pork simmers, place the sliced white onion in a small bowl. Pour over the white vinegar, a pinch of salt, and the half teaspoon of oregano. Toss with your hands and let it sit. The onion will soften and turn pale pink at the edges in 20 minutes. This is the Pueblan way of dressing the top. Raw onion is too sharp. Heavily pickled onion is too sour. You want the in-between.

   Some cocineras poblanas skip the vinegar entirely and use raw onion rinsed under cold water for a minute. Either is correct. Pick a household and stay loyal.
3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the guajillo, pasilla, and ancho chiles separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should puff and turn fragrant, never blacken. The pasilla is thin and burns faster than the guajillo. Watch it. Burned chile turns the salsa bitter and there is no recovering from it later.

4. 4

   Char the tomatoes and toast the spices

   On the same comal, char the tomatoes whole, turning them until the skins blister and split on all sides, about 8 minutes. In a small dry skillet, toast the cumin seeds, cloves, oregano, and canela for 30 seconds until they smell awake. Pull them off the heat the second you can smell them. Pueblan salsas live or die by the spices, and the spices live or die by how you toast them.

5. 5

   Soak and blend the salsa

   Place the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water. Hot, not boiling. Let them soften for 15 minutes. Drain. Transfer the chiles to a blender along with the charred tomatoes, the 4 garlic cloves, the toasted spices, and one and a half cups of the reserved pork broth. Blend on high until completely smooth, two to three minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids. Discard the skins. The salsa should pour like heavy cream.

6. 6

   Fry the salsa

   In a wide cazuela or heavy skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the lard over medium heat. Add the strained salsa. It will sputter. Step back. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the salsa darkens to a deep brick red and the fat rises to the surface in a glossy slick. La manteca es el sabor. This is the step that separates a chancla salsa from a sad red sauce. Taste for salt. Keep warm over low heat.

7. 7

   Shred the pork

   Lift the pork out of its broth and let it cool just enough to handle. Shred it with two forks or your fingers into rough pieces. Not too fine. You want it to hold its shape inside the bread. Season with another pinch of salt. Set aside.

8. 8

   Toast the rolls

   Split each chancla roll horizontally without cutting all the way through, like a clamshell. Heat the remaining tablespoon of lard in a skillet over medium. Place the rolls cut-side down and toast until golden and slightly crisp on the inside, about 90 seconds. The toasted face holds up to the salsa without dissolving. A soft, untoasted roll turns to mush in seconds. Así se hace y punto.

9. 9

   Build and drown the chanclas

   Open each toasted roll on a deep plate. Fill the bottom half with a generous mound of shredded pork and three or four slices of avocado. Close the roll loosely. Ladle the warm chile salsa over the top until the bread is fully soaked and a pool of red gathers around the plate. Drown it. That is the point. A dry chancla is not a chancla. Top with the pickled onion and a heavy dusting of crumbled queso fresco.

   Eat it with a fork and knife. The chancla is not a hand sandwich. It is a saucy plate that requires utensils, like enchiladas. Tell your guests. They will thank you.

Chef Tips

• •If you cannot find true chanclas bread, use bolillos or teleras. Slice them horizontally, press them flat with your hand, and toast them hard in lard. They will not be identical but they will hold the salsa. Soft burger buns or French rolls are wrong. They turn to paste.
• •The pasilla is the heart of this salsa. Do not substitute it with mulato or with extra ancho. Pasilla has a dark, almost raisin-like depth that the others do not, and removing it changes the whole character of the dish. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado in Puebla and they will all tell you the same.
• •The pickled onion is meant to be lightly cured, not heavily pickled. Twenty minutes in vinegar is enough. If you leave it for an hour, it becomes too sharp and fights the chile instead of balancing it.
• •Queso fresco is the right cheese. Not cotija, which is too salty and dry. Not Oaxaca, which is too mild and stringy. Queso fresco crumbles cleanly and carries the salt the dish needs without taking over.

Advance Preparation

• •The braised pork can be made one day ahead. Refrigerate it in its broth so it stays moist, and shred it just before assembly.
• •The chile salsa can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens. Reheat gently with a splash of pork broth to loosen it before serving.
• •The pickled onion can be made up to four hours ahead. Past that, it loses its bright pink edge and turns aggressive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)