Panuchos Yucatecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy 10-inch skillet for the tortillas
• •Tortilla press lined with two pieces of plastic (a cut zip-top bag works)
• •Wide heavy cazuela or skillet for frying
• •Fine-mesh sieve for straining the beans
• •Sharp paring knife for splitting the tortillas
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan for draining

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the black beans

   Rinse the dried black beans and pick out any stones. Place them in a heavy pot with the halved onion, garlic, epazote, and the whole habanero. Cover with cold water by three inches. Bring to a gentle simmer, lower the heat, and cook uncovered for about an hour and a half, until the beans are soft enough to crush against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add hot water as needed to keep them submerged. The habanero must stay whole. If it splits, the pot turns from perfumed to scorching, and the beans are ruined. Salt only at the end, once they are tender. Salt too early and the skins toughen.

   Epazote is not optional in Yucatecan beans. It is the herb that makes the pot taste like the Peninsula. If you cannot find fresh, dried epazote will work, half a teaspoon, but track down the fresh next time.
2. 2

   Make the frijol colado

   Lift out the habanero, onion, and epazote sprig. Frijol colado means strained beans, and that is exactly what you do. Ladle the beans and a generous amount of their broth into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a rubber spatula. Discard the skins left behind in the strainer. Melt 3 tablespoons of lard in a wide skillet over medium heat. Pour in the bean puree, careful, it will splatter. Cook, stirring constantly, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the beans thicken into a paste that holds a line when you draw a spoon through the bottom of the pan. This is what goes inside the tortilla. Loose beans will burst the panucho. La manteca es el sabor.

3. 3

   Mix the masa

   Combine the masa harina and salt in a bowl. Add the warm water gradually, working it with your hands until you have a smooth, pliable dough that feels like fresh playdough. Press a small piece between your fingers. If it cracks at the edges, the masa is too dry, add water a teaspoon at a time. If it sticks to your palm, it is too wet, add a little more masa harina. Cover with a damp towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Press and cook the tortillas

   Heat a comal or heavy skillet over medium-high until a drop of water dances. Divide the masa into 12 balls about the size of a golf ball. Press each one between two sheets of plastic in a tortilla press to a circle about 5 inches across and slightly thicker than a standard tortilla. You want them a little hefty because they will be split open. Cook the first side for about 30 seconds, flip, cook 45 seconds on the second side, then flip back to the first side. Press the center gently with a clean kitchen towel. The tortilla should puff into a pillow of steam. That puff is everything. It creates the pocket that holds the beans. If a tortilla does not puff, set it aside, those are for tostadas, not panuchos.

   The puff comes from a comal that is hot enough and a tortilla pressed evenly. Lukewarm comal, no puff. Uneven pressing, no puff. Practice on a few before you commit the whole batch.
5. 5

   Split and stuff

   Work fast while the tortillas are still warm and pliable. Use a small sharp paring knife to cut a slit about two-thirds of the way around the edge of each puffed tortilla, opening it like a clamshell without separating it. Spoon about two tablespoons of the frijol colado into the pocket and press the tortilla closed. Smooth the edges with your fingers so no bean shows. The seal matters. A leaky panucho falls apart in the lard.

6. 6

   Fry the panuchos

   Melt the 1 1/2 cups of lard in a wide heavy skillet or cazuela over medium-high heat. The lard should be about half an inch deep and hot enough that a corner of tortilla dropped in bubbles immediately. Fry the stuffed tortillas, bean side down first, for about a minute and a half, then flip and fry the other side for another minute, until both sides are deep golden and the edges crackle. The exterior should crisp without going hard. Drain briefly on a wire rack. Do not stack them. Stacking traps steam under the panuchos and the bottoms turn soggy. This is a fried antojito, treat it like one.

7. 7

   Top and serve

   Pile each fried panucho with warm cochinita pibil. Crown with a generous tangle of pickled red onion, the more the better, the acid cuts the lard. Lay two slices of avocado across the top. Set salsa de chile habanero and lime wedges on the table. Eat immediately, with your hands, the way the senoras in the cantinas of Merida serve them. A panucho that sits gets soft. A panucho eaten the moment it is topped is what the dish is supposed to be. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The cochinita pibil should be made the day before. It is its own day-long project: pork shoulder marinated in recado rojo with naranja agria, wrapped in banana leaf, and slow-cooked until the meat shreds. Do not skip the recado, do not skip the banana leaf, do not skip the naranja agria. If you cannot find naranja agria, mix two parts orange juice, one part lime, one part white grapefruit. It is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Pickled red onion takes ten minutes and one hour to cure. Thinly slice a red onion, cover with hot water for thirty seconds, drain, then submerge in naranja agria with salt, oregano, and a couple of allspice berries. It keeps in the refrigerator for a week and gets better every day.
• •The puff is the recipe. If you cannot get tortillas to puff, the comal is not hot enough, the masa is too dry, or you are pressing unevenly. Practice three or four before you commit to the full batch. The flat ones become tostadas, which is the same dish without the bean inside. The cantinas of Merida call those salbutes when they are fried plain, panuchos when stuffed.

Advance Preparation

• •The frijol colado can be made two days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently with a splash of water before stuffing.
• •The cochinita pibil should be made one day ahead. The flavor deepens overnight and the meat is easier to shred when cool.
• •The pickled red onion should be made at least one hour ahead and keeps for a week refrigerated.
• •The tortillas must be pressed, cooked, split, and stuffed the same day. Do not refrigerate stuffed tortillas before frying, the masa stiffens and the panucho will crack open in the lard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)