Culinary Explorer
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Tabasco Tortilla de Yuca
Created by Chef Lupita
Tabasco's Chontalpa tortilla de yuca is grated cassava worked into nixtamal masa with manteca de cerdo, then cooked on a comal until soft, speckled, and faintly sweet.
Tabasco, especially the Chontalpa, is where this tortilla belongs: low, humid land, cacao country, plantain country, yuca country. This is not a northern flour tortilla and it is not a central Mexican corn tortilla pretending to be universal. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The yuca gives the dough its softness and that quiet sweetness you taste before the salt and lard come forward. The masa gives structure. The manteca de cerdo gives tenderness. La manteca es el sabor. If you leave it out, the tortilla turns dry and stiff, and then you will blame the yuca. Don't blame the yuca.
I learned this kind of cooking from women who grated roots by hand because that was what the kitchen required. You press the grated yuca well, because too much liquid makes the tortilla gummy. You cook it on a dark comal until brown freckles appear and the edges stop looking wet. No me vengas con atajos. The work is small, but it matters.
Ingredients
fresh yuca
Quantity
1 pound
peeled, woody core removed, finely grated
fresh nixtamal masa or prepared masa harina dough
Quantity
2 cups
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
softened
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh yucapeeled, woody core removed, finely grated | 1 pound |
| fresh nixtamal masa or prepared masa harina dough | 2 cups |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard)softened | 3 tablespoons |
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