A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Created by
Santa Maria Magdalena's hidden Queretaro antojito, cracked corn masa wrapped around carnitas migajas and fried in pork lard until the outside grips under your teeth.
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.
Santa Maria Magdalena is an Otomi-origin community in the municipality of Queretaro, where maize-based antojitos remained tied to household and fiesta cooking even as the city expanded around it. Lolos show the older central Mexican habit of using nixtamal in multiple textures, not only as fine masa for tortillas, but also as coarse maiz quebrado for fritters and filled bites. Pork and manteca entered the region after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, and dishes like this absorbed those ingredients without losing their indigenous corn foundation.
Quantity
2 cups
cooked and drained, or use 4 cups prepared coarse nixtamal
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, divided
Quantity
1/2 cup, plus more as needed
Quantity
3 tablespoons
softened, for the masa
Quantity
1 pound
chopped into migajas
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for refrying the migajas
Quantity
1/4 small
finely chopped
Quantity
1
finely chopped
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
Quantity
2 pounds
for frying
Quantity
8
husked and rinsed
Quantity
3
Quantity
1 small
Quantity
1/4 cup
chopped
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried field corn for nixtamalcooked and drained, or use 4 cups prepared coarse nixtamal | 2 cups |
| cal, food-grade calcium hydroxide (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, divided |
| warm pork broth or warm water | 1/2 cup, plus more as needed |
| manteca de cerdosoftened, for the masa | 3 tablespoons |
| cooked carnitaschopped into migajas | 1 pound |
| manteca de cerdofor refrying the migajas | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/4 small |
| fresh chile serranofinely chopped | 1 |
| epazotefinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| manteca de cerdofor frying | 2 pounds |
| tomatilloshusked and rinsed | 8 |
| fresh chile serrano | 3 |
| garlic clove | 1 small |
| cilantrochopped | 1/4 cup |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
If starting with dried corn, rinse it and place it in a pot with 2 quarts water and the cal. Simmer 35 to 45 minutes, until the skins loosen and the kernels are tender but not bursting. Let it sit off the heat for 8 hours, then rinse well and rub away the loose skins. This is work, yes. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Grind the drained nixtamal in a molino or food processor until it looks like rough masa with visible bits of corn. Add 1 teaspoon salt, the softened manteca, and enough warm pork broth to make a dough that holds together when pressed. It should feel moist and slightly nubby, not sticky like paste.
Melt 2 tablespoons manteca in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped carnitas, white onion, chile serrano, epazote, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Fry 6 to 8 minutes, stirring and pressing the meat, until the edges crisp and the filling smells of pork, corn, and herb. Let it cool before filling. Hot filling tears masa.
Heat a comal over medium. Roast the tomatillos and 3 serranos until blistered and softened, turning them as they spot with black. Toast the garlic still in its skin for a few minutes, then peel it. Pound everything in a molcajete with cilantro and salt until the salsa is coarse and bright. A blender works if you pulse it. Do not turn it into green water.
Wet your hands lightly. Pinch off a piece of masa about the size of a golf ball and flatten it into an oval in your palm. Lay 1 tablespoon of carnitas migajas down the center, close the masa around it, and roll it into a short thick baton, about 4 inches long. Seal the ends well. If the masa cracks, knead in a spoonful of warm broth.
Melt the 2 pounds manteca in a heavy pot to 350F. Fry the lolos in small batches, turning them gently, until the outside is deep golden and rough with crisp corn edges, 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Do not crowd the pot. Crowding drops the temperature and the masa drinks fat instead of sealing.
Lift the lolos onto a rack or brown paper to drain. Sprinkle with a little salt while the surface is still glossy. Serve hot with the salsa martajada and lime halves. They should crack softly under your teeth, then give you the pork in the center. That is the point.
1 serving (about 240g)
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary Explorer
Chef Lupita
The pre-Columbian ahuacamolli of the Valley of Mexico, pounded in a basalt molcajete with tomate verde, chile serrano, onion, and salt. No lime, no garlic, no shortcuts. The original guacamole, served the way the Mexica ate it.
Chef Lupita
Sonora's mesquite-grilled alambre of ribeye and arrachera with bacon, bell pepper, and onion, blanketed in melted asadero and rolled into thin flour tortillas at the rancho table.
Chef Lupita
Nayarit's palapa-style seafood alambres thread shrimp, octopus, firm fish, pineapple, onion, and peppers through a guajillo and chile de arbol adobo, then grill them over wood charcoal for a botana built to share.
Chef Lupita
Sonora's roasted chicken wings tossed in clarified butter heavy with crushed wild chiltepín, garlic, and fresh lime. Sharp clean heat, no vinegar burn, no Tex-Mex shortcuts. The desert north on a plate.