Lolos de Santa Maria Magdalena

Queretaro, Santa Maria Magdalena. That is where these lolos live, in the old Otomi community now folded into the city but still cooking like the city has not swallowed it whole. This is not a restaurant antojito. This is patio food, fiesta food, picnic food, the kind of bite wrapped in paper and eaten while the oil still shines on the surface.

The masa is not smooth tortilla masa. It is maiz quebrado, nixtamal ground coarse, with little pieces of corn that give the lolo its rough bite. You roll it long and short, like a fat little churro, then hide carnitas migajas in the center. Migajas means the small broken pieces, the crisp bits and soft shreds left from a proper pot of carnitas. Waste nothing. My mother used to say the best cook is the one who knows what to do with the leftovers before they become leftovers.

They are fried in manteca de cerdo. No me vengas con atajos. Oil will fry them, yes, but it will not give the corn that savory perfume that belongs to the dish. La manteca es el sabor. Serve them in barro rojo or a shallow clay cazuela with salsa martajada on the side, and you have a Queretaro snack that has been hiding in plain sight. Cada estado, su propia cocina.