Chef Lupita
Birria Tacos with Consome
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Pambazo Jarocho (Veracruz-Style Pambazo)
Created by
Veracruz's original pambazo, before Mexico City dipped it in red chile. A pale, flour-dusted roll split and loaded with lard-rich black refried beans, crumbled chorizo, and smoky chipotle. La Tercera Raíz on one plate.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Mexican
Quick Meal
Game Day
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 45 min cook•2 hr 5 min total
Yield6 pambazos
This is Veracruz. The port. And this is the original pambazo, the one that came before Mexico City got hold of it and started dipping the bread in guajillo. The chilango pambazo is red, soaked in chile, stuffed with papa con chorizo. The jarocho pambazo is pale. It stays pale. That is the whole point.
The bread is a white roll dusted in flour, and the flour stays on. You do not drown it in red sauce here. The name says it plainly: pan bazo, the humble bread, the cheap bread of the poor, dusted white and split down the middle. Inside go frijoles negros refritos, fried in manteca until they turn dark and glossy. Black beans. Not pinto. Then chorizo, then chipotle. That is the trinity of the jarocho pambazo and it does not need a fourth thing.
Veracruz does not cook like the central highlands. There is no guajillo-ancho-mulato base here. The port's pantry is jitomate, olive, caper, chipotle, chiltepín, the Indigenous hand and the Spanish hand and the African hand all working the same plate. This is La Tercera Raíz, the third root. Veracruz is where Spain came ashore, where the wheat and the olives and the capers landed, and where the cooking of three continents learned to live in one kitchen.
My notebook has a page from a señora who sold pambazos near the portales on the malecón, the ones you eat at sunset with the boats coming in. She refried her beans in lard until they were the color of dark chocolate and warmed the bread on a plancha so old it had a groove worn into it. She told me the bread should never be wet. Toast it, do not soak it. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The word 'pambazo' descends from 'pan basso' or 'pan bazo,' a colonial term for the low-grade, grayish bread made from second-rate flour and eaten by the poor of New Spain. The dish later split into two regional identities: the Veracruz original keeps the pale, flour-dusted roll filled with black beans and chorizo, while the central Mexican version, soaked in guajillo sauce and stuffed with potato and chorizo, became the pambazo most of the country pictures today. Veracruz cuisine carries 'La Tercera Raíz,' the African heritage that arrived through the port alongside Spanish wheat, olives, and capers, making it one of the few Mexican regional kitchens where the Indigenous, European, and African roots are all equally visible on the plate.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried black beans
Quantity
1 pound (about 2 cups)
picked over and rinsed
white onion (for the beans)
Quantity
1/2 medium
left in one piece
white onion (for refrying)
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
peeled
fresh epazote
Quantity
2 sprigs
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
5 tablespoons
divided
Mexican chorizo
Quantity
12 ounces
casings removed
chipotle chiles en adobo
Quantity
1 can (7 ounces)
pambazo rolls or teleras
Quantity
6
split almost through with a hinge
all-purpose flour
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for dusting the rolls
shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce
Quantity
2 cups
Mexican crema
Quantity
1 cup
crumbled queso fresco
Quantity
1 cup
pickled red onion or thinly sliced white onion (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried black beanspicked over and rinsed | 1 pound (about 2 cups) |
| white onion (for the beans)left in one piece | 1/2 medium |
| white onion (for refrying)finely chopped | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovespeeled | 3 |
| fresh epazote | 2 sprigs |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| lard (manteca de cerdo)divided | 5 tablespoons |
| Mexican chorizocasings removed | 12 ounces |
| chipotle chiles en adobo | 1 can (7 ounces) |
| pambazo rolls or telerassplit almost through with a hinge | 6 |
| all-purpose flourfor dusting the rolls | 2 tablespoons |
| shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce | 2 cups |
| Mexican crema | 1 cup |
| crumbled queso fresco | 1 cup |
| pickled red onion or thinly sliced white onion (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy pot or clay olla (olla de barro) for the beans
- •Wide skillet or cazuela for refrying
- •Cast iron comal or heavy griddle
- •Bean masher or potato masher
Instructions
- 1
Cook the black beans
Put the soaked, rinsed black beans in a heavy pot or olla de barro. Cover with cold water by three inches. Add the half onion in one piece and the garlic. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, partially covered, for about an hour and a half, until the beans are soft and creamy at the center. Add the epazote and the salt only in the last twenty minutes. Salt them early and the skins toughen. The epazote is not decoration. It is the herb that makes a Gulf-coast black bean taste like itself.
Black beans here, not pinto. On the Veracruz coast the black bean rules the pot and the pinto stays up north where it belongs. Keep a cup of the cooking liquid before you drain. You will need it to loosen the refry. - 2
Refry the beans in lard
Melt 4 tablespoons of lard in a wide skillet or cazuela over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and cook until soft and golden, about five minutes. Ladle in the beans with a little of their liquid and mash them as they fry, adding more liquid as you go. Cook until they pull away from the pan in a thick, glossy paste, dark and almost black. La manteca es el sabor. These beans are the mortar that holds the whole pambazo together, so do not let them go dry and do not skimp on the fat.
If the beans tighten up too much before serving, beat in a splash of the reserved cooking liquid over low heat. You want them spreadable, not stiff. - 3
Cook the chorizo
In a separate skillet, crumble the chorizo and cook over medium heat, breaking it apart with a spoon, until it renders its red fat and the edges crisp, eight to ten minutes. Good Mexican chorizo throws off enough fat that you will not need to add any. If yours runs lean, add a spoonful of lard. Do not drain it. That red fat is the flavor.
- 4
Cut and fold in the chipotle
Slice 4 to 6 chipotles en adobo into thin strips and stir them into the cooked chorizo along with a spoonful of the adobo from the can. Let it warm together for a minute. Taste. It should be smoky and a little sweet, with heat that climbs slowly. This is the Veracruz chile, the smoked jalapeño, carrying the wood smoke that runs through so much of the Gulf-coast pantry. No guajillo here. That is the highlands.
- 5
Dust and warm the bread
Split each roll almost all the way through, leaving a hinge. Dust the tops lightly with flour, the way the panaderos do, so the bread reads pale and matte. Melt the last tablespoon of lard on a comal or heavy griddle and warm the rolls cut side down until just toasted and hot through. Do not soak this bread. The jarocho pambazo stays dry on the outside and the flour stays white. That is what makes it Veracruz and not chilango.
No pambazo bread at your panaderia? A telera or bolillo works. Whatever you use, dust the top with flour and never dip it in red sauce. The pale crust is the signature of the original. - 6
Build the pambazo
Open each warm roll. Spread a thick layer of the hot refried black beans across the bottom, all the way to the edges. Pile on the chorizo with its chipotle, then top with shredded lettuce, a drizzle of crema, and a handful of crumbled queso fresco. Add pickled onion if you like. Close it, press it gently between your hands, and eat it right away while the beans are hot and the bread is still warm. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Look for true pambazo bread at a Mexican panaderia. It comes pale and already dusted with flour. If you can only find teleras or bolillos, dust the tops with flour yourself and warm them dry. Whatever you do, do not dip this bread in red chile sauce. A substitution on the bread is a compromise, not an upgrade, but dipping it turns the jarocho into a chilango.
- •The beans must be black and they must be refried in lard. Pinto beans and vegetable oil will get you a sandwich, but not this one. La manteca es el sabor, and the epazote is what keeps black beans tasting like the Gulf coast.
- •Chipotle en adobo is easy to find and works well here. If you want the deeper, drier smoke of the coast, hunt down chipotle meco, the big tan one, and rehydrate it. A few crushed chiltepines on top is a very Veracruz move if you can find them.
- •This is a quick meal and a game-day plate. Have the beans, chorizo, and chipotle hot and ready, then build the pambazos to order. They are best the minute they close.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the black beans in plenty of cold water overnight, or at least six hours, before cooking. This shortens the simmer and gives you creamier beans.
- •The refried beans can be made two to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens. Loosen them with a little water or bean liquid when you reheat.
- •The chorizo with chipotle can be cooked a day ahead. Warm the bread and assemble fresh only, never in advance, or the floury crust goes soft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 425g)
Calories
1050 calories
Total Fat
48 g
Saturated Fat
21 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
25 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
2800 mg
Total Carbohydrates
110 g
Dietary Fiber
16 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
45 g
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