Tacos Acorazados Morelenses

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for tortillas and toasting chiles
• •Heavy 2-quart pot with a tight lid for the rice
• •Wide skillet for frying milanesa and building the tinga
• •High-powered blender
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan for draining the milanesa
• •Hand-woven cotton servilleta for keeping tortillas warm

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken for tinga

   Place the chicken thighs in a small pot. Cover with cold water by an inch. Add half an onion, one peeled garlic clove, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 25 minutes, until the chicken pulls apart easily. Lift the thighs out, let them cool enough to handle, then shred the meat off the bone with your fingers. Save one cup of the poaching liquid. Discard the rest of the broth solids.

2. 2

   Toast and blend the rice base

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo for the rice for about 20 seconds per side, until it puffs and smells warm. Do not blacken it. Drop it in a heatproof bowl with the two cored tomatoes for the rice, the quarter onion, and one garlic clove. Cover with hot tap water and let everything soften for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender with 1/2 cup of the soaking water and blend until smooth. Strain. You want about one cup of red puree.

   Morelenses call this arroz rojo and it has to be loose and stained, not sticky. The grain should stand apart from its neighbor. If your rice cooks up gummy, you used too much liquid or skipped the fry step.
3. 3

   Fry the rice

   Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. Drain well. In a medium pot with a tight lid, melt 2 tablespoons of lard over medium heat. Add the drained rice and stir constantly for 4 to 5 minutes, until the grains turn opaque white and smell toasty. La manteca es el sabor. This is the step that gives morelense rice its character. Skip it and you have rice pudding.

4. 4

   Simmer the rice

   Pour the red puree into the toasted rice. It will sputter. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the puree darkens and coats every grain. Add the warm chicken broth, the peas and carrots, and the teaspoon of salt. Stir once. Bring to a boil, then drop to the lowest heat, cover tight, and cook for 18 minutes. Do not lift the lid. Pull off the heat and let it rest covered for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. The rice should be loose, deeply red, and tender. This is the armor of the taco.

5. 5

   Build the tinga guisado

   Char the three tinga tomatoes and two garlic cloves on a dry comal until blackened in spots and soft, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a blender with the chile chipotle, the adobo sauce, and a splash of the reserved poaching liquid. Blend smooth. Melt the tablespoon of lard in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the chipotle puree. It will sputter and darken. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens and the fat starts to break. Add the shredded chicken, the epazote sprig, half a cup of the reserved poaching liquid, and the half teaspoon of salt. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the chicken drinks up the sauce and the mixture is moist but not soupy. Pull out the epazote stem. Taste for salt.

6. 6

   Bread and fry the milanesa

   Pound the milanesas thin between two sheets of plastic if your butcher has not done it already. Season with the half teaspoon of salt. Set up three shallow plates: flour, beaten egg, breadcrumbs. Dredge each milanesa in flour, then egg, then press firmly into the breadcrumbs. Melt the quarter cup of lard in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, lay in the milanesa and fry for 90 seconds per side, until the breading is deep gold and crackling. Drain on a wire rack. Cut each milanesa in half so you have four pieces.

   The traditional acorazado offers two crowning options: milanesa or a fried egg. Make a few of each. In Cuautla, the corner stands let you choose, and a regular customer will order one of each in a single sitting.
7. 7

   Fry the eggs

   Wipe the milanesa skillet and add a tablespoon more lard. Fry the eggs over medium heat, sunny side up, until the whites are set but the yolks still tremble. Salt them lightly. The egg-topped acorazados need that runny yolk to bind everything together when you bite in.

8. 8

   Warm and double the tortillas

   Heat the comal over medium. Warm each tortilla for about 20 seconds per side, until soft and lightly speckled. Stack them in a hand-woven servilleta to hold the heat. The acorazado uses two tortillas stacked, not one. That double base is the armor that gives the taco its name. A single tortilla collapses under the weight of rice plus guisado plus protein. Two tortillas hold the line.

9. 9

   Assemble the acorazado

   Lay two warm tortillas overlapping slightly on each plate. Spoon a generous heap of red rice across the center, edge to edge. Spoon the tinga guisado over the rice. Crown with a piece of milanesa or a fried egg. Scatter the chopped raw onion across the top. Add a slice or two of avocado and a few pieces of jalapeño en escabeche. Serve with salsa and lime at the table. Eat it standing up, the way they do in the markets of Cuautla, with the second tortilla catching what falls from the first. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •The arroz rojo is the recipe. Most cooks treat it as a side dish and rush it. In a real acorazado, the rice is the foundation, the binder, and half the flavor. Toast the grain in lard until it smells like popcorn before you add any liquid. No me vengas con atajos.
• •The guisado on top is a moving target. Tinga is one classic, but morelense cooks also crown the rice with picadillo, chicharron en salsa verde, mole verde, or rajas con crema. Make whatever guisado you have a leftover of. The acorazado is a thrifty taco by design.
• •Two tortillas. Always two. A single tortilla will fail under the weight of rice and guisado and milanesa, and you will end up eating with a fork like a tourist. The doubled tortilla is what makes the taco an acorazado and not a tostada.
• •If you can find true Mexican manteca de cerdo from a carniceria, use it. The grocery store hydrogenated version is not the same thing. La manteca es el sabor and the cheap substitute tastes like nothing.
• •Hand-pressed corn tortillas matter more here than in most tacos. The machine-pressed supermarket ones tear and go gummy under the wet rice. Find a tortilleria or press your own from fresh masa.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken tinga can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens overnight. Reheat gently with a splash of broth.
• •The arroz rojo is best made the day of serving, but you can cook it three hours ahead and hold it covered in the pot off the heat. Reheat with a sprinkle of water under a tight lid.
• •The milanesas and eggs must be fried at the moment of serving. Crisp does not survive the refrigerator.
• •Tortillas should be warmed at the last minute. A cold tortilla under hot rice will turn to wet paper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)